Method and system for avoidance of parking violations

ABSTRACT

A system and method for identifying a potential parking violation for a location includes storing and rating parking violation related data, and notifying a user, by a computing system communicating with a user&#39;s computing device, of the potential parking violation and how to avoid receiving the potential parking violation citation. The data is stored in a database and clustered by data types. The user&#39;s computing device is used to identify user type, location, and time. A user engagement panel is used to share and rate parking violation related data and notifications, and rewards are allocated to a user for contributing useful data. Highly rated data may be incorporated into the notifications. The data is analyzed to predict or infer a violation. A notification corresponding to a current location and user type are generated when violations are predicted.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation-in-part of co-pendingapplication Ser. No. 15/382,240, filed on Dec. 16, 2016, which is acontinuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 14/832,584, filed on Aug.21, 2015, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,558,665, issued on Jan. 31, 2017, whichclaims priority to provisional application Ser. No. 62/086,560, filed onDec. 2, 2014, provisional application Ser. No. 62/092,100, filed on Dec.15, 2014, provisional application Ser. No. 62/113,922, filed on Feb. 9,2015, and provisional application Ser. No. 62/150,118, filed on Apr. 20,2015, the entire contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to parking violation avoidance and, morespecifically, to a method and system for providing guidance withidentifying and avoiding parking violations.

DISCUSSION OF THE RELATED ART

Local parking ordinances and rules frequently regulate where and for howlong a vehicle may be parked along public roadways. A driver who parks avehicle in a manner that is not permitted under such ordinances andrules may be described as having committed a parking violation. When alaw enforcement officer such as a police officer or other trafficenforcement officer finds a vehicle parked in such a manner, a citationmay generally be issued. This citation may be referred to as a parkingticket or parking violation citation. Accordingly, both the act ofparking a vehicle in an impermissible manner and the ticket issued fordoing so may be referred to as a parking violation.

Tickets issued for parking violations may be difficult to contestsuccessfully and may carry a significant monetary penalty. Parkingviolations may also include penalty points toward your license. Thesepenalty points may result in an increase in vehicle insurance, and afterobtaining a certain amount of points within a certain time period, adriver's license may be suspended or revoked. Additionally, improperlyparked vehicles can impede the flow of traffic, interfere with theoperation of public transportation and sanitation services, and blockemergency and essential services from being effectively delivered.Accordingly, it is in the public interest to increase adherence toparking rules.

However, parking rules, regulations, laws, citation codes, etc.(hereinafter, “RRLC”) can be very complex, especially in large citiessuch as New York City, where there may be a large number of reasons forrestricting where people can park and therefore create a high demand forparking spaces. It is therefore common for drivers to commit parkingviolations, even when they have no intention to violate the rules. Theconstant congestion and lack of parking spaces paired with thecontinuing increase in the number of vehicles on the road alsoexacerbates the current rate of parking violations.

Although parking rules may individually be clear, sometimes parkingrules are not clear enough when multiple rules are applied in realparking situations on the street, for example, where each of the rulesapplies only for certain times and on certain days. Drivers often findthemselves receiving parking violation tickets due to a lack ofunderstanding or confusion about the parking rules and signs at specificlocations. For example, the Rules of the City of New York (hereinafter“Rules of NYC”) are clear in stating that a vehicle cannot be parkedover a pedestrian crosswalk at any time. However, a parker might notunderstand how that rule applies to any given intersection, for example,if the crosswalk line is not completely drawn from one side of thestreet to another, the parker might misunderstand the incomplete markingand believe that parking is allowed since the vehicle does not overlap apainted crosswalk line. However, parking at that location is still aviolation because the vehicle is technically parked over the pedestriancrosswalk, even though there is no clear completely painted line.

In a second example, people generally know they cannot park at or withina certain distance (e.g., 15 feet) of a fire hydrant at any timeaccording to the Rules of NYC, but people are often confused as to whatrules apply when the parking space is separated from the fire hydrant byone or more intervening elements. For example, drivers may receivetickets when parking in illegal parking spaces which are parallel to ahydrant but are separated by a bike lane. In a third example, parkingsigns may state that the time restriction for parking is not only duringcertain periods of time during a day or days of the week, but also forcertain months or dates of the year.

Because of the complexity of urban parking restrictions, drivers may beconfused whether parking is permitted in a given location at aparticular day and time. Drivers wishing to abide by parking rules maytake care to examine signage that may be posted in the vicinity of aparking spot, but parking signs may be difficult to interpret when thesigns seem to describe complicated rules. For example, a first parkingsign may indicate that parking is permitted within certain hours while asecond parking sign may indicate that parking is not permitted withinother hours. To the extent that these hours overlap, parking is notpermitted, and a parker reading only the first sign but not the secondmay believe that parking is allowed, even when it is not.

In the view of foregoing, there is a need for a method and system forstoring and updating parking violation citation data for a plurality oflocations, and helping drivers comply with parking rules and regulationsat such locations to avoid receiving parking violations, citations, etc.Further, information resources are needed for users to educatethemselves about parking RRLCs and the manner in which they apply forspecific locations to avoid parking violations. The above-mentionedshortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein, asdetailed below.

SUMMARY

The following summary is not intended to identify or point to essentialfeatures or limit the scope of the subject matter claimed herein. Thepresent disclosure relates to parking violation avoidance and, morespecifically, to a method and system for avoidance of parkingviolations. An exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure providesa system for providing parking guidance including a central computingsystem in communication with a user and a plurality of additional usersthrough a computing device. The central computing system is incommunication with a database, including but not limited to a unifieddatabase, that stores parking violation related data includinghistorical parking violation related data correlated to real-timeparking violation related data. The database stores the parkingviolation related data clustered into data types consisting ofcommercial vehicle related data and non-commercial vehicle related data.The parking violation related data is further clustered by type ofvehicle or type of vehicle plate. The historical parking violationrelated data includes parking rules, parking violation codes, parkingviolation statutory codes or abbreviations used by parking enforcementpersonnel, associated fines or other penalties, parking signs with oneor more locations, associated parking meter costs with parking meterlocations, notices for temporary or permanent parking prohibitions, towaway zone locations, or parking violation related data. A clockmechanism determines a present time and date. A user engagement panelreceives the parking violation related data and contributes to anallocation of monetary or non-monetary rewards as consideration forcontributing the parking violation related data. A location determiningapparatus identifies a current location of the user. The locationdetermining apparatus is in communication with the computing device. Aprocessing apparatus, in communication with the central computing systemis configured to analyze the parking violation related data to predict aviolation of one or more parking rules or regulations using the currentlocation, the present time and date, and the parking violation relateddata and to generate one or more notifications of parking violationrelated data corresponding to the current location and to the user typeof the user. A display apparatus is in communication with the computingdevice for displaying one or more notifications with said parkingviolation related data to the user and the plurality of additionalusers.

Another exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure provides amethod for providing parking guidance including the steps of utilizing acentral computing system in communication with a user and plurality ofadditional users through a computing device. The step of utilizing adatabase storing parking violation related data including historicalparking violation related data correlated to real-time parking violationrelated data clustered into data types consisting of commercial vehiclerelated data and non-commercial vehicle related data. The data isfurther clustered by type of vehicle or type of vehicle plate. Theparking violation related data includes parking rules, parking violationcodes, parking violation statutory codes or abbreviations used byparking enforcement personnel, associated fines or other penalties,parking signs with one or more locations, associated parking meter costswith parking meter locations, notices for temporary or permanent parkingprohibitions, tow away zone locations, or parking violation citationrecords. A present time and date are determined. A user engagement panelfor sharing parking violation related data is utilized. The userengagement panel contributes to an allocation of monetary ornon-monetary rewards as consideration for contributing the real-timeparking violation related data. A current location of the user isidentified. The user type includes a commercial vehicle user type and anon-commercial vehicle user type, further categorized by type of vehicleor type of vehicle plate. The parking violation related data is analyzedto predict the user potentially being in violation of one or moreparking rules or regulations. The one or more notifications with parkingviolation related data are issued to the user based on the user type towhich the user belongs. The one or more notifications with the parkingviolation related data are displayed to the user and the plurality ofadditional users.

Another exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure provides anelectronic parking violation identification system for identifying apotential parking violation for a location. The system comprises aplurality of remote computing devices communicatively coupled to anetwork and a server communicatively coupled to the network forcommunicating with the remote computing devices, the server including atleast one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium withcomputer-readable instructions stored therein, a database, and aprocessor. The processor is for executing the computer-readableinstructions to: receive user data associated with a user from one ofthe plurality of remote computing devices, the user data comprising anidentified location, an identified time, and a user type; display on oneor more display screens of the plurality of remote computing devices oneor more user engagement panels for enabling one or more additional usersto provide one or more ratings with respect to at least a portion ofparking violation related data associated with at least the identifiedlocation, wherein the parking violation related data comprises at leastone of location data associated with one or more parking violations,time data associated with one or more times of the one or more parkingviolations, one or more reasons for one or more parking violationcitations occurring at the identified location, or one or morerecommendations for avoiding the one or more parking violation citationsat the identified location, wherein the one or more additional usershave firsthand experience with the identified location, and wherein thefirsthand experience is determined based on (i) a first notification,received by the one or more additional users, that is associated withthe identified location, or (ii) the one or more additional users havingcome within a predetermined proximity of the identified location; inresponse to the one or more ratings reaching a predetermined number,modify the database to include at least a portion of the parkingviolation related data rated via the one or more user engagement panels;and generate a second notification including at least the parkingviolation related data corresponding to the identified location, theidentified time, and the user type, wherein the second notificationidentifies a potential parking violation applicable to the user byinference.

Another exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure provides anelectronic parking violation identification method for identifying apotential parking violation for a location. The method comprisesreceiving user data associated with a user from one of a plurality ofremote computing devices communicatively coupled to a network, the userdata comprising an identified location, an identified time, and a usertype; displaying on one or more display screens of the plurality ofremote computing devices one or more user engagement panels for enablingone or more additional users to provide one or more ratings with respectto at least a portion of parking violation related data associated withat least the identified location, wherein the parking violation relateddata comprises at least one of location data associated with one or moreparking violations, time data associated with one or more times of theone or more parking violations, one or more reasons for one or moreparking violation citations occurring at the identified location, or oneor more recommendations for avoiding the one or more parking violationcitations at the identified location, wherein the one or more additionalusers have firsthand experience with the identified location, andwherein the firsthand experience is determined based on (i) a firstnotification, received by the one or more additional users, that isassociated with the identified location, or (ii) the one or moreadditional users having come within a predetermined proximity of theidentified location; in response to the one or more ratings reaching apredetermined number, modify a database to include at least a portion ofthe parking violation related data rated via the one or more userengagement panels; and generating a second notification including atleast the parking violation related data corresponding to the identifiedlocation, the identified time, and the user type, wherein the secondnotification identifies a potential parking violation applicable to theuser by inference.

In yet another embodiment, the method may further comprise collecting,via the one or more user engagement panels, crowdsourced parkingviolation related data comprising at least one of: location dataassociated with one or more parking violations, time data associatedwith one or more times of the one or more parking violations, one ormore reasons for one or more parking violation citations occurring atthe identified location, or one or more recommendations for avoiding theone or more parking violation citations at the identified location,receiving one or more ratings of at least a portion of the crowdsourcedparking violation related data from one or more additional users via theone or more user engagement panels, and modifying the database toinclude at least a portion of the crowdsourced parking violation relateddata collected through the user engagement panel, upon the ratings ofthe crowdsourced data reaching a predetermined number. The method mayalso comprise receiving one or more ratings of at least a portion of thecrowdsourced parking violation related data received from one or moreadditional users via the one or more user engagement panels, and,responsive to the portion of the notification receiving a firstpredetermined number of positive ratings, issuing a reward to theadditional user who shared the crowdsourced parking violation relateddata, wherein the reward is one of a monetary reward or a non-monetaryreward.

Other objects, features, and characteristics of the present invention,as well as the methods of operation and functions of the relatedstructural elements, and the combination of parts and economies ofdevelopment and manufacture, will become more apparent uponconsideration of the detailed description below with reference to theaccompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the inventive disclosure and many of theattendant aspects thereof may be readily obtained as the same becomesbetter understood by reference to the following detailed descriptionwhen considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1A is schematic diagram illustrating a system for using data fromthe database to alert drivers of parking violation occurrences inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure;

FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a database in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an approach for alerting adriver in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the inventivedisclosure;

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram illustrating a user's interaction withthe central computing system using a computing device when a userreports a parking ticket in accordance with an exemplary embodiment ofthe inventive disclosure;

FIG. 3B is a flowchart illustrating how the parking ticket informationreported by the user is recognized, processed and uploaded to the systemin accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure;

FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating a user-interface engagement panel(Ticket Sharing & Q/A/C) based on a specific location in accordance withan exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure;

FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating a user-interface engagement panel(Signs & Other) based on a specific location in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an approach for processing parkingviolation related data in the database in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the inventive disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method to alert the user based onthe data in the database in accordance with an exemplary embodiment ofthe inventive disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating the components of a computingdevice in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the inventivedisclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating the physical composition of aremote operative server that may implement a method and system of theinventive disclosure in accordance with an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a computing device incommunication with the central computing system receiving a notificationfor commercial vehicles in accordance with an exemplary embodiment ofthe inventive disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a computing device incommunication with the central computing system receiving a notificationfor non-commercial vehicles in accordance with an exemplary embodimentof the inventive disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system for using data inthe database to alert drivers of parking violation occurrences through acentral computing system and a computing device in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a process of rating data submittedto the user engagement panel to correct, update, and supplement parkingviolation related data within the database in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a circular process of rating anotification to dynamically correct, update, and supplement parkingviolation related data within the database in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a system for inferring a potentialparking prohibition based on location in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the inventive disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a user's computing device and adisplay of a notification that a user may receive regarding a potentiallocation-related parking prohibition in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the inventive disclosure;

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a system for inferring a potentialparking prohibition based on time in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the inventive disclosure; and

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a display of a notification that auser may receive regarding a potential time-related parking prohibitionin accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings that form a part hereof and in which specificembodiments that may be practiced are shown by way of illustration. Thedescribed embodiments may enable those skilled in the art to practicethe embodiments, and it is to be understood that logical, mechanical andother changes may be made without departing from the scope of theembodiments. The following detailed description is therefore not to betaken in a limiting sense.

The present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the specificterminology so selected, and it is to be understood that each specificelement includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similarmanner. Although the invention may be described herein with reference toa modern metropolis such as New York City (“NYC”) as the main examplefor implementation, the system and method is applicable worldwide. Theterms “driver(s)” may be used interchangeably with “user(s),” which isintended to encompass driver(s) to include those individuals who mightnot be a driver but, nevertheless, receive assistance by using theinventive disclosure. In addition, “user” is also intended to cover awide array of subjects. A “user” may generally encompass privateindividuals and entities through its one or more representativesinterested in reducing the amount of parking violation citations itreceives; in essence, the word “user” is intended to describe anyinterested individual or interested individuals affiliated with entitiesregistered with the inventive disclosure, not limited only to privateindividuals. The inventive disclosure may assist the user in avoidingparking violations or tickets. The terms “parking citation(s),” “parkingticket(s),” or “parking violation citation(s)” may be usedinterchangeably, but their meanings may be the same (e.g., a ticketreceived by a driver for a parking violation).

An exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure may refer to theimplementation of a system and method through a combination of hardwareand software that operates on a portable computing device, whichcomprises various pre-programmed features combined and integrated withbasic components including but not limited to one or more servers,databases, mobile end applications, web portals, network settings, etc.With the support of these components, information may be providedthrough user interfaces, such as a website, an application, or anin-vehicle navigation system. In addition, there may be one or moreservers that may be in a distributed structure with support from datacenters that may be located anywhere around the world. Theseimplementations may be communicatively linked and cross-platformed withthe electronic map display, indicators which convey parking relatedinformation, profile, and setting information etc., so that a user on acomputing device may be provided with parking violation related datarelevant to a specific location and time. The application may becommunicatively linked to or integrated with other embodiments which caninclude a server, a user interface component, an interface component,and a server interface. The server interface handles communicationsexchanged between the server and applications instead of directlyconnecting the two applications, and all management and processing ofthe data may be administered through the service system server. Featurescan be implemented through one or more computing devices that allow formethod steps to be processed and output by a processor.

The computing device may be a device which allows a user to interactwith the central computing system and with the user engagement panelthrough an interface which allows certain panel features to be accessed.This computing device may be a handheld mobile device, an in-vehiclenavigation system, or another means of access such as a laptop computer,etc., and the panel features may be discussions relating to avoidingparking violation citations or contesting parking violation citations,for example. The computing device may incorporate several apparatuses bybeing communicatively linked with one or more devices which allow for itto communicate in turn with the central computing system. Suchapparatuses may include a clock mechanism, a location determiningapparatus such as a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, and adisplay apparatus. These apparatuses may reside within the computingdevice such as in a smartphone or may reside outside and share awireless or wired link with the computing device.

The system may in part include a geographical information system (GIS)to capture, display, and otherwise analyze data. The GIS may integratean electronic or digital map for instance as a layer (such as GOOGLEMAPS, which is an electronic mapping service provided by Google, asubsidiary of Alphabet Inc., etc.) to be viewed on a computing device toview smartphone, Web-based, or other storage media. With thisintegration, roadways may be displayed from the map database whichpresents the analyzed data as to the location and explanations of ticketviolations that are easily understood by the user. The GIS system mayintegrate different layers, and data points with similar attributes canbe isolated and output as a layer. That output layer would show all theinstances of those data points that have similar attributes.

The system may connect internally with various functions of a computingdevice that include but are not limited to the clock function, phonecall function, microphone, GPS tracking for geolocation mapping(latitude and longitude coordinates), and/or camera, etc. Theapplication can run on the computing device and utilize resources whichmay include microprocessor, memory, GPS, wireless connection anddisplay. A notification can be accomplished through one or more mediasources, such as the visual display or audio system, etc. A notificationmay include, but not be limited to, information about parking rules orregulations applicable to the identified present location of the user,reference to previously issued parking related violation citations, suchas the number of previously issued parking related violation citations,for the identified present location of the user, parking signage relatedinformation, parking meter locations and associated parking meter costs,as well as reasons for issuance of parking related violation citationsat that location.

The system may further provide a platform for the collaboration andsharing of parking violation related data. Parking violation relateddata, which may be historical or real-time, may be crowdsourced orsourced from various sources, (hereinafter, “informational sources”),that include, but are not limited to one or more users or otherinterested individuals, entities such as the government, governmentagents, municipalities, non-government organizations (NGOs), privateentities, and community organizations, or media sources. Media sourcesmay include, but are not limited to, websites, blog posts, socialnetworks, newspapers, magazines, professional articles, broadcasts,television programs, and any other resources where parking violationrelated data can be collected, etc. Some of the historical parkingviolation related data may be provided as public open data from thegovernment agencies and may also be available through a request from theFreedom of Information Act, if not available through public governmentwebsites. Some information that is made private by some informationalsources, such as government agents' websites, may be accessed byobtaining a user's permission to access that information. Once theinformation that needs an authorization has been accessed, the centralcomputing system may notify a user of any upcoming fee and due date fora parking violation citation, etc., as it might not be convenient forthe user to access the informational source directly. However, thecentral computing system or the system administrator may additionally oralternatively obtain parking violation related data through the inputfrom a user and/or interested individuals as well as private entities,for example, transportation companies, or any other organizations thatspecialize in transportation who may have access to issued parkingcitations or other parking violation related data. The database mayutilize a collection method for the collection of parking violationrelated data from the informational sources. Parking violation relateddata gathered from media such as newspapers, blogs, social media, etc.may be collected and summarized manually, for example, by a systemadministrator or system employee, or automatically, for example, by anartificial intelligence algorithm, to correct, update, and supplementthe database. This collected historical parking violation related datamay also be corrected, updated, and supplemented by real-time parkingviolation related data. Real-time parking violation related data isconsidered to be real-time when one or more users share parkingviolation related data immediately. “Immediately” can be within apredetermined period of time, such as fifteen minutes from receiving theparking violation, or it may be virtually instant. If the data does notmeet requirements to be considered real-time data, then the data isconsidered historical data, but it will still be used to update otherhistorical parking violation related data already existing in thedatabase.

Government released parking violation related data may be availablethrough the applicable authority's website and/or publicly accessibleopen data. Although locations identified in such government releasedparking violation related data might not be as accurate as geolocationcoordinates, such data is nevertheless useful. And, to better identifylocations from government released data, these locations may betransformed to geolocation coordinates through any qualified third-partysoftware, that provides a location geocoding service for latitude andlongitude coordinates, before the citation location data is input intothe database.

Parking violation related data may also be obtained by crawling (e.g.systematic internet browsing) or otherwise connecting to relevantgovernment or law enforcement websites that store parking violationrelated data for a specific user. Through this connection, the centralcomputing system may be configured to notify a user of any pendingticket information. However, in order to do so, prior authorization mayneed to be obtained from the user to automatically search for thatuser's parking violation related data, such as pending violations. Ifthere are any pending violations found, the central computing system maysend a notification to the user about a currently pending violation.With the authorization from the user, the information from theseviolations may be input as data into the database to further build theupdated comprehensive database to alert other users with reasons forpotentially receiving a parking violation citation to help avoid theseviolations. Parking violation related data may also be sent to a userwho has pending parking tickets. For example, in NYC, the thresholdamount is $350 in unpaid parking tickets before a driver's vehicle maybe towed regardless of whether or not a vehicle is legally parked, andthe central computing system may be able to send an alert about reachingthis threshold. Accordingly, the user may receive a notificationindicating that the user has for example, $300 in unpaid parking ticketsas it is approaching the threshold amount of $350 and the user is atrisk of having a vehicle towed once the user reaches $350 and has notyet paid these accumulated ticket penalties. The user may be assisted inclaiming the vehicle by accessing relevant towing information if theuser's vehicle has been towed as a result of the accumulated unpaidparking tickets.

Various parking violation related data as reported by a user, i.e.crowdsourced data, may be periodically or continuously collected andanalyzed to build a more accurate, up-to-date database. As used herein,“crowdsourcing” is a distributed problem-solving method that utilizesonline and offline resources to compile services, ideas, and/or contentby the solicitation and/or capturing of data from a variety of peoplenative to a special community that is targeted by the crowdsourcedsubject. Crowdsourcing may be used in gathering data that is notprovided through other sources. Crowdsourced data may be in the form ofreal-time data or historical data. Incentives may be used to encouragereporting of parking violation related data by a user to correct,update, and supplement the data in the database. This incentivestructure paired with an administrative quality control center may beused to ensure the quality and reliability of the data in the database,as this data is subsequently used to prevent a user from receivingparking violations and therefore needs to be kept to high standards ofaccuracy and reliability. Each data input, whether sourced orcrowdsourced, historical or real-time, may be assigned a unique trackingnumber, allowing at least the system administrator to track the databack to its original source if necessary.

The system may promote transparency and accuracy of parking violationrelated data in the database gathered from various sources by utilizinga platform for a user to access the data in the database in auser-friendly, application interface. To build the database, raw parkingviolation related data, which may include but is not limited to parkingviolation citation data, may be obtained from informational sources,uploaded to a computer microprocessor, and formatted to include onlyrelevant data used for running analyses and providing notifications. Theuploaded parking violation related data may be then split into two setsfor cleaning and uploading into the server. The first set may be parkingviolation related data which is already verified as to having all thenecessary information in the right format; whereas the second set may beparking violation related data that needs to be reformatted to includeall the necessary information. Once all parking violation related datahas been cleaned, the location data may be extracted in a data frame tobe used in a third party geocode application program interface (API),for example, GOOGLE GEOCODING API, which is a location geocoding serviceprovided by Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., or SMARTSTREETS,which is a location geocoding service for latitude and longitudecoordinates provided by SmartyStreets, LLC, etc. to output a file withall the geocoded information of relevant locations, where the file maybe a file such as a .csv file. Any other type of technology may beadopted or developed to more accurately identify the geolocation relatedto a parking violation. The output may be reviewed and corrected by thesystem administrator for accuracy and completeness. Parking signage dataand RRLC data files may also be uploaded, cleaned and merged with thecitation data into the database.

The raw data entered, processed, stored, and analyzed may include but isnot limited to: the type of violation; the causes or reasons for theviolation; name of law enforcement officer who issued the ticket; lawenforcement officer comments on the ticket; registration state; platetype; vehicle type; issue date; violation code; violation statutorycode; issuing agency; violation time; house number; street name; lawsection; subdivision; days parking in effect; from hours in effect; tohours in effect; violation description; any other relevant factors;and/or other parking violation related data from the database, etc.Reasons for parking ticket violations may include but are not limitedto: standing in a no standing zone, where it is prohibited to wait orstop to load or unload packages or merchandise at curbside and onlyallows for stopping to expeditiously drop off or pick up passengers;stopping in a no stopping zone, where it is prohibited to wait, stop toload or unload packages or merchandise or drop off or pick uppassengers; parking tickets related to blocking areas, such as parkingin front of or blocking an entrance, exit, or crosswalk, as well asblocking a mailbox; parking within a prohibited zone based on a distancefrom a bus stop or fire hydrant; parking too close to a railroadcrossing; parking restrictions based on timing such as holiday, paraderoute, or other special event parking that only applies selectively; andparking prohibitions that relate to double parking, whether for acertain amount of time or any time at all. Some parking prohibitionsrelate to a revolving schedule, such as street cleaning parkingprohibitions, which happen on given days of the week between twodifferent times. Prohibitions can also relate to user oversights, suchas remaining parked after a time expiration. Parking tickets can alsorelate to parking within a zone or area that is restricted to certaintypes of vehicles or people, such as parking in a handicapped spot orwithin handicapped zone or in a bike lane, in addition to parking in aprivate parking zone or a zone with a required permit. Furthermore,parking tickets can relate to prohibitions or limitation for parking forcertain for certain kinds of types of vehicles, such as motorcycle-onlyparking or parking a bicycle in areas banning bicycle parking. Inaddition, there may be selective zones that have different penaltiesassociated with them, such as parking in a tow-away zone. Further,reasons can include parking in the wrong direction, or parking longerthan the maximum allowed time, or any other conceivable reason, etc.These reasons are mined for notifications as well, as the notificationsare based on the data that is stored in the database. For example, inNYC, the Department of Finance uses violation codes to issue parkingtickets while these violation codes contain reasons linked to violationstatutory laws written into Chapter 4 Section 4-08 of Title 34 of theRules of NYC. Parking violation reasons may be matched with theirrespective violation codes, which may be used to infer parking violationreasons for specific locations and generate alerts applicable to a userbased on the user type.

An exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure may be configured tointegrate algorithms to detect duplicate data, if the tickets issued ondates and times match those in the database, which may be labeled asduplicate data and may be automatically removed from the data set.However, tickets issued on dates and times not included in the databasemay be added to the database, and notifications may be updated toproperly reflect added data to then properly alert a user with updatedinformation.

The database may also include other types of publicly available usefuland critical resources, for example, abbreviations and their commonmeanings as used by law enforcement. Law enforcement officers often useabbreviations when issuing tickets. On the ticket, abbreviations mayappear in the area where the officer specifies the violation and/orlocation of the violation. Abbreviations may be processed and stored inthe database by gathering data from publicly available sources toprovide the most accurate and up-to-date meanings. The user may be ableto check the language to automatically change the abbreviations to plainEnglish meanings according to location when typing them into thecomputing device. The function may also be used when the user reports aticket that contains abbreviations. For example, a user receives aticket violation for parking a vehicle in violation of the law at acertain location and intends to report. The ticket violation states, the“Place of Occurrence” is “E/S Calloway St. Oft N/of Otis Ave.” The usermay, for example, type the abbreviated language into the computingdevice when reporting, and then the central computing system mayautomatically change the abbreviations to plain and easilyunderstandable English explanations and then convert the address into ageolocation. For example, tickets with confusing abbreviations, “E/SCalloway St. Oft N/of Otis Ave.” would be changed to “East Side CallowayStreet Zero feet North of Otis Avenue” and then used to create theaccurate geolocation through a third party's geolocation API to beentered into the database. The geolocation can then be used to alertother users. A user may earn a reward by uploading an issued parkingviolation or report any incorrect or inconsistent information; thedatabase may then be corrected, updated, and supplemented accordingly toreflect the changes, in turn making notifications more accurate. Thesecorrections may be supported by proof, such as a photograph or statutoryupdate. The user may, in such instances, be required to furnish suchproof.

The database may also include parking signage information, for exampleparking signage location information and parking signage images from thewebsites of various government sources (e.g. Department ofTransportation, hereinafter “DOT”). Parking signs that apply to a user'scurrent location may be automatically displayed for the user on thecomputing device after a user temporarily stops or parks in a location.If the user does not understand the signage or has any questions, theuser may select (e.g. press upon on a touchscreen) the image of thissignage on the display to open the user engagement panel function, wherethe user may report the signage information and view any exchangedinformation from other users for this signage that is connected to thecurrent location. It is to be understood by one of ordinary skill in theart that “user engagement panel” herein is used to denote a panel a usercan access where that user may exchange parking violation related datasuch as information as well as share relevant ideas. This may beaccessible through a terminal or computing device such as a smartphone,tablet, or other means of internet access. A user may interact with theuser engagement panel through an electronic touch-sensitive screen on amobile device or may use any other interactive computing device. Anyother potential term may be used to describe this function, such as“forum,” “discussion group,” “online meeting,” etc. The term “userengagement panel” serves this purpose herein.

The user engagement panel may be used by one or more users, or otherinterested individuals, or entities such as the government, governmentagents, municipalities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), privateentities, and community organizations, or media sources. If parkingsignage information is not available from government resources, the usermay choose to submit parking signage information for the applicableparking signs with the possibility of receiving certain monetary ornon-monetary rewards. Accordingly, a user might not have to physicallyleave the vehicle to spend time walking to the sign to figure out ifparking is allowed, putting them at risk of receiving a ticket duringthis time. Instead, the user may receive a notification with applicableparking signage for that specific location. The notification may bebased on user type, vehicle type, and/or plate type. The parking signageimage notification may include a rating system, so the user may rate thenotification positively or negatively, confirming accurate informationand indicating the presence of inaccurate information.

Monetary and non-monetary rewards can cover a wide range of tangible orintangible items. For instance, a non-monetary reward may be thegranting of access, for a time, to certain premium system features, orit may be a user or subscription fee waiver. Monetary rewards mayinclude rewards such as reimbursement for ticket citation payments, orpayments of tickets in part or in full or other predetermined monetaryreward. In addition, monetary rewards may also be related to parkingmeter time, etc.

A potential user may be asked to register with the service by providingdriver's license pertinent information such as name, type of plate, typeof vehicle, the state or country issuing the driver's license, and anemail address to create a user ID for each user of the application. UserIDs may be necessary for the purposes of tracking reports and ratingsmade by each user. Credit card and/or debit card information may also berequested for subscriber fees for certain services provided for acertified user. A certified user may be allowed to use various featuresof the application which include but are not limited to reporting dataand rating data. The subscriber fees collected may also directly orindirectly fund the source used to help pay for user's incurred ticketsas a part of the incentive structure in order to obtain more parkingviolation related data. For instance, a user can upload their parkingviolation citations to the user engagement panel, and other users cangive positive or negative ratings depending on at least the accuracy ofthe provided citation. The data in the database may be updated,corrected, or supplemented to reflect new parking violation relateddata, which may lead to a corresponding notification being updatedaccordingly. Once the notification reaches a predetermined number ofpositive ratings, confirming thereby that the data conveyed by thenotification is correct, then the user who shared that new parkingviolation related data may receive a monetary or non-monetary reward. Amonetary reward may be funded from collected fees. A user may belimited, however, in how many times the user may vote on a singlesubmission in the user engagement panel in order to root out indecent orfraudulent behavior which may be undertaken to reap a reward unfairly,such as rigging self-submitted parking violation related data to bepositively rated.

An exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure may include a userprofile database configured to store user information and associationsbetween each user and the user's computing device after registering.Once registered, a user may set and change their information in theiruser profiles, if desired. Settings that may require a user's input orpreference may be subsequently changed by the user within the settings(e.g. on/off). For example, the user may change the type of vehicle theuser is currently driving. Accordingly, this is also applicable to thetype of plate associated with the vehicle. The following types of usermay be recognized: non-commercial vehicle user and commercial vehicleuser, further categorized by type of vehicle and type of vehicle plate.Since different RRLC may apply to non-commercial and commercial vehiclesresulting in different types of ticket violations which may becategorized, a user who indicates in their profile that they drive acommercial vehicle may be automatically marked in the different categoryfor only commercial vehicles. Non-commercial vehicles may include butare not limited to: passenger cars, mini-vans, SUVs, etc. Within thecommercial vehicles database, the type of commercial vehicle may besplit into categories, which may include, but are not limited to,tractor-trailers, trucks, buses, taxis, and limousines, etc. Parkingrules applicable to commercial vehicles might not also be applicable tonon-commercial vehicles, and accordingly, data may be separated fromdifferent types of vehicles into different categories so that thetickets may also be categorized depending on the vehicle and theviolation reasons.

The application may allow different types of user to enter parkingviolation citation information which may be categorized in the databaseaccording to different data types. For example, drivers ofnon-commercial vehicles may receive tickets for parking in commercialvehicle only standing zones which only permit commercial vehicles toload and unload cargo. Therefore, the citation database may includecitation data from non-commercial vehicles and commercial vehicles,which may be separately labeled according to the vehicle type. Vehicletype data may show different types of vehicles which commit theviolations. Although there are two types of vehicles that have theirrespective databases, the two types may be combined and integrated inone database. Different types of user may then be issued a notificationwith the type of data that correspond to their user type. A notificationmay be made more accurate since tickets may be grouped in separatecategories depending on the type of vehicle and types of vehicle plates,which may be included in commercial vehicles or non-commercial vehicles.

The user engagement panel may be preset to focus on a particular area,such as an identified current location of a user. When a user opens theuser engagement panel, the content that may automatically display may bebased on the user's present location. A user who receives a notificationmay click on a notification to access more details about a potentialparking violation. If the user is still not satisfied with thosedetails, the user may use the user's computing device to connect withthe user engagement panel, where the content that automatically displaysmay be information in even greater detail. This content may includeparking signage, and the user may submit a question to the userengagement panel based on the user's specific location. However, theuser engagement panel may also be accessed for content in other areas.For example, this may be a user in New York who intends to rent a truckto move to Florida. The user might like to see parking violation relateddata applicable to a certain area where the user intends to unload thetruck. Since the truck is usually considered a commercial vehicle anddifferent states might have different regulations regarding parking andunloading a commercial vehicle in the street, it might be convenient forthe user to get familiar with parking violation related data applicableto that certain area prior to the move to avoid receiving a parkingviolation related citation. It is to be understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art that this is one example in a wide array of potentialreasons a user may want to access user engagement panel content forareas encompassing that user's immediate surroundings.

A user can also tailor which notification that user wants to see. Inaddition to having a notification issue on the basis of what kind ofvehicle the user is driving, or what type of vehicle or what type ofplate, the user can specify further what he or she does or does not wantto be notified about. The user can preclude a single notification or awhole category of notifications. In addition, the user can specify thetype of information he or she would like to see in a notification. Forexample, the user may specify to not see any image of signage, insteadopting to see simply a short description of that signage. In anotherexample, a user who parks often in the same area each day could specifythat the notification relevant to that parking location at certain timesdoes not need to be displayed each day, as the user may be very familiarwith the rules. Whole categories of notifications or specific parts ofeach notification may be able to be turned off, too. For example, a usermight not feel the need to see a notification that serves as a reminderto pay meter fees or other violations, which may occur solely due to theuser's disregard of obvious or known parking norms. If such violationsdo occur and the user attempts to contribute parking violation relateddata regarding them, a system administrator may preclude this data frombeing added to the database, or certain parking violation data may beprecluded automatically. For example, this would be a citation issuedfor an expired meter, or a citation issued from blocking adriveway-though these rules may differ by location, those violationsmight not be relevant to a user who is well informed about those rules.In addition, a user may limit a notification to certain times, such ashaving parking reminders issued on nights and weekends while beingturned off during working hours during the week. This is, however, anexample and not intended to limit in any way the time customization thatthe user can specify with regard to which a notification is issued, noris it intended to limit what information does get incorporated into thedatabase.

Since there are different types of commercial vehicles, the centralcomputing system may also sort and categorize data depending on vehicletype, plate type and the issuing agency of the specified parkingviolation. Information may be inferred depending on plate type, vehicletype and issuing agency. The same rules may apply to the same categoryof vehicle or the same type of vehicle plate, which may be regulated bya specific agency. Different issuing authorities may have differentrules and regulations that apply only to the vehicles they have theauthority to regulate. Accordingly, violation citation data may becategorized based on type of vehicle and also type of vehicle plate inorder to provide an accurate notification to a user who based on usertype. This categorization may be applicable to both commercial andnon-commercial vehicles. However, law enforcement may have the authorityto regulate all types of vehicles and issue parking violation citationsto them all. Accordingly, a notification may apply to all types ofvehicles or all type of vehicle plates, but a notification may applyselectively to different types of vehicles. Parking violation relateddata may be sorted into the same categories that parking rules mayapply, where each violation citation datum includes but is not limitedto time, reasons, location, type of vehicle, and type of plate etc. forthe received parking violation citations. Since some rules may apply tosome vehicles and not to others, depending on the type of vehicle andtype of vehicle plate, then a notification may be sent to all applicablevehicles. For example, in NYC, the Taxi and Limousine Commission(hereinafter, “TLC”) regulates commercial vehicles which have a platebeginning with the letter, “T.” TLC officers have the authority to issuespecific types of tickets unique to TLC vehicles based on TLCregulations but do not have the authority to regulate other commercialvehicles, for example buses, which are regulated by the DOT.

Different parking violation related notifications apply in differentsituations. A notification may be generated from the database thatinvolves the processing and analysis of several data set components:available historical and compiled data from informational sources;real-time or historical data as crowdsourced from user's input parkingviolation related information; crowdsourced parking violation disputerelated information to assist or advise ticket disputes; rules andabbreviations data; parking meter locations and parking meter fees data;ticket dispute data from a user and any and all supplemental informationas provided and/or verified by the system administrator, all of whichmay be subject to review and/or ratings. Data may be labeled in thedatabase according to its source. The exemplary embodiment of theinventive disclosure may use a team of professional individuals withrelevant expertise in parking violations and/or parking rules to verifythe accuracy of the data in the database. A notification may becorrected, updated, and supplemented depending on data gathered and userratings. Using the user engagement panels, crowdsourced parkingviolation related data may be collected which comprises at least one oflocation data associated with parking violations, time data associatedwith times of the parking violations, or reasons for parking violationcitations occurring at an identified location. Through the userengagement panels, ratings of at least a part of the notification orcrowdsourced parking violation related data may be received fromadditional users. Based on the ratings of the part of the crowdsourceddata or the notification reaching a predetermined number, the databasemay be modified to include at least a portion of the crowdsourcedparking violation related data collected through the user engagementpanel(s). In response to the part of the notification or crowd sourcedparking violation related data receiving a predetermined number ofpositive ratings, a reward may be issued to the additional user whoshared the crowdsourced parking violation related data, where the rewardmay be one of a monetary reward or a non-monetary reward.

A notification may be short, stating the reasons on why a user might notpark in a particular location with other brief information thatsummarizes the historical parking violation related data at thelocation. This notification may be brief because a user may receive thisnotification on his or her display apparatus and may be either drivingwhen looking for parking or distracted from conducting other activities.A notification alerting a user may be generated based on the differentcategories, types of vehicle, and/or type of vehicle plate applicable tothe user receiving the notification. One type of notification mayinclude information about the potential violation such as dates and timeframe applicable to the violation, historical summary of violationcitations at the current location, reason(s) for the violation, etc. Thehistorical summary of ticket information may contain a time frame fromcertain dates that are reflected in the data (for example, date, month,time, etc.), parking violation reasons, applicable penalties, totalpenalties collected, categories of ticket types and their applicablepenalties, and the number of tickets issued within the time frame toeducate the user and act as persuasive information in order to informthe user of the potential consequences of parking in a certain locationto avoid the user from taking a chance to park in the location withviolations.

Another type of notification may appear when the system displays on adisplay screen of a user's remote computing device a comparison ofparking rules applicable at different jurisdictions, for example, rulesthat apply at the current location and rules of the state that issuedthe user's driver's license. For example, a user whose driver's licenseis issued in Connecticut might not know that parking is not allowedwithin 15 feet of a hydrant in New York since the rule in Connecticut isset at 10 feet away from hydrant. Among other instances, the user may beable to view this notification information at any time, by pressing abutton on the screen of the computing device at the location to checkfor parking violations or to check for different parking rules. A usermay rate the information on the notification and also report thenotification to the system administrator if they think there isinaccurate or false information. In this manner, double ratings mayoccur (e.g., ratings of the parking relevant data and ratings of thenotifications based on the parking relevant data). It will beappreciated that such double ratings will help the system toself-correct as conditions change.

As the system records and stores accurate geolocation GPS coordinates(longitude and latitudes) of the user's computing device, thenotification sent to a user can be customized and localized to theuser's location based on a predetermined radius. Since the databasestores and analyzes RRLC from different municipalities and/or otherauthorities, geolocation and applicable RRLC may be matched to send anotification according to the user's user type and current location or alocation indicated at a user's request. For example, the locationidentifier may use the user's present location to place the user withina particular set of jurisdictions. This function may be useful for auser who drives across state or country lines and are unfamiliar withthe RRLC from different states or countries. The database may have theuser's driver's license information as the user may enter and store theinformation of the driver's license with the state or country who issuedthe driver's license when registering a profile. Using the location fromwhere the user's driver's license was issued with a user's currentgeolocation data, the central computing system may send a notificationfor different rules or a summary of different parking rules to the useraccording to the geolocation as it changes. The user may press a buttonon the display of the computing device to view the summary of thedifferent parking rules when comparing the location that issued theuser's driver's license with the user's current location. The inventivedisclosure might not only be applicable within the different states ofthe United States but may also be applicable between different countriesworldwide.

Since a notification is short and meant to alert the user with quick,summarized information about the potential parking violation, the usermay utilize the user engagement panel, including but not limited to aforum module, to obtain more comprehensive and detailed information fromposts which include but are not limited to inquiries, responses,discussions, pictures, videos, written descriptions, and any otherinformation that may be posted. The information submitted to the userengagement panel is subject to ratings from additional users. Theadditional users may provide feedback, suggestions, negative ratings,positive ratings, etc. Once the submitted information reaches apredetermined number of positive ratings, that information may be usedto correct, update, and supplement the database accordingly. Thesubmitted information will transform to a new (e.g., a second)notification to be issued to a user. This new notification or newcrowdsourced parking violation related data is then subject to furtherratings by additional users having firsthand experience.

A user having firsthand experience is identified as a user who hasreceived a notification with parking violation related data about aspecific location, including when the user passes within or has passedwithin a predetermined distance or radius of that specific location.This radius may be set by default or preset by the user through thesettings. For the purpose of identifying the firsthand experience, thecentral computing system may be connected to the Internet and acomputing device capable of determining a user's geographic location(i.e., via a GPS receiver, etc.) and transmitting the identifiedgeolocation of the user to the central computing system. The system maytrack, using a GPS receiver, the location and time of the additionalusers, and store this location data and time data in the database inorder to identify the tracked location and time of the additional users.In response to receiving the ratings from the additional users, thestored location and time data associated with the additional users maybe retrieved in order to determine whether the additional user(s) has(have) firsthand experience based on the retrieved location and timedata. Once the notification or crowdsourced parking violation relateddata reaches a predetermined number of positive ratings, then the userwho submitted the initial information which may be later transformed toa notification, may receive a monetary or non-monetary reward for thevaluable contribution. Whereas the notification that reaches apredetermined number of negative ratings may then correct, update,supplement, or otherwise modify the database.

While reported ticket data is used to generate or update the contentappearing in a notification, all of information provided in ticketsharing may go to the ticket sharing user engagement panel (e.g. photos,videos, etc.). A notification may be displayed when the user isapproaching the specific location where the user may potentially receivea parking violation citation. Information provided by a user in the userengagement panel may correct, update, and supplement informationprovided in a notification. The combination of receiving a notificationand accessing a user engagement panel may provide more useful andextensive information for a user because a notification provides quick,time sensitive information while the user engagement panel provides thedetailed, extensive information useful to gain full knowledge of thesituation.

The user engagement panel may incorporate two aspects: it may beconnected to the specific location of violations on the electronic mapor a general user engagement panel where a user may discuss generalideas not related to specific locations. The user can press on alocation related to parking violations within the map display to choose“Panel,” to access the user engagement panel, which may includedifferent categories where information may be exchanged between users,for example, tickets sharing; questions or answers or comments; parkingsigns; and/or other categories not included in the above, if any etc.The content which is automatically supplied in the user engagement panelis based on the user's current location. The tickets sharing categorymay allow a user to view comprehensive, detailed parking violationrelated information for a particular location including but not limitedto a copy of the ticket without sensitive information; reasons for theviolation; time of the violation; and an advisory to avoid theviolation, etc. The questions or answers or comments category may allowa user to ask any questions, input any answers, and input any commentsrelated to parking violations for the location in addition to viewingall this information contributed by other users. The parking signscategory may allow a user to exchange information regarding parkingsigns, such as redesign of a parking sign regarding, or translation to adifferent language or clarification of content. Other categories notincluded in the above may be added or deleted at the discretion of thesystem administrator. When a user has an inquiry regarding parkingviolation related information for a location, the application may allowthe user to post using the user engagement panel to obtain moreinformation. The user-input information may be open to comments and/orratings from other users. Comments with the most positive ratings may begiven priority ranking for the position of the comment on a list. If thepositive ratings reach a predetermined number then the user may receivea reward. The user engagement panel may allow other users to providevarious comments that include but are not limited to information onwhether a dispute may be successful based on provided circumstances fromthe user who received the parking ticket.

A user may use the user engagement panel to post a picture of a parkingor street signage at a specific location and ask about the plainlanguage of the sign. Drivers often experience difficulty inunderstanding parking signs, especially when there are multiple signsfor different parking rules. In addition, many drivers might not have astrong command of the English language, which leads to furtherdifficulties in interpreting the signs. Therefore, the user engagementpanel may provide information on s the parking signs associated with aspecific location and translate these parking signs not only intoanother language, but also into easy-to-understand, plain-English terms.Since some parking signs are confusing, a user may participate inredesigning them to make new designs. A user may create redesigns ortranslate traditional parking signs to different languages to be moreunderstandable. Their design images may be subject to a rating system,and the top design which generates the most positive ratings over acertain number after a certain amount of time may be rewarded. Thetop-rated design may remain at the top of the list so other users canview and easily understand the meaning of the signs.

The user may be allowed to do a general search for violations in thespecific location within the user engagement panel and may furthersearch based on type of vehicle or type of vehicle plate. If the searchdoes not result in an answer that satisfies the user, the user may havethe option to post their own inquiries in the user engagement panelconnecting to the specific location. By educating users through sharingat least their own parking violation related experience, other users maybe more conscious of their parking actions, which may help in theavoidance of receiving tickets and/or overall reduction of parkingticket violations. All functions of the application, such as anotification and the user engagement panel for example, may be availablein different languages that can be changed by the user. An exemplaryembodiment of the inventive disclosure may use a third-party serviceand/or API, for example, GOOGLE TRANSLATE, which is a languagetranslation service provided by Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.,or the system administrator may hire professionals with expertise inparking violations and also competent translators to translate thecontent to different languages or provide explanations in plain English.A user may also translate information, which may be subject to positiveand negative ratings.

An exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure of the applicationmay also connect to a third-party electronic map, for example, GOOGLEMAPS, which is an electronic mapping service provided by Google, asubsidiary of Alphabet Inc., etc., to provide a street view function onthe user engagement panel for specific places with a ticket occurrence.Other media, for example, photos, videos, etc. for the location may alsobe provided by a user or employee of the system. This is especiallyuseful for those locations with a predetermined number of violationswhere more information should be provided or for those locations where auser may be unfamiliar. The user's privacy or the public's privacy maybe protected when uploading photos, videos, etc.

A notification may be sent based on violations with time restrictions.Time restrictions may be a time frame where parking is not allowedwithin a certain location, which may be used to help produce atime-sensitive notification when applicable. The data may reflect anaccurate time frame for these violations rather than track each time asits own specific instance of a violation and may notify a user about theentire time frame when parking is prohibited, and not just a specifictime point as indicated on the ticket. In addition, when parkingviolation related data is identified as time sensitive, whethersubmitted through a user engagement panel or collected from anothersource, the system administrator may be given the discretion toimmediately incorporate this time-sensitive data into a notification,because there may be a need to notify a user as soon as possible, suchas in the case of a temporary notice or a tow away zone, and becausesome information regarding a time-sensitive prohibition may bepreferable to no information. In this scenario, the time-sensitive datamay not need to reach a predetermined number of positive ratings priorto being incorporated into a notification. If a notification withtime-sensitive parking violation related data reaches a predeterminednumber of negative ratings, this time-sensitive data may be removed fromthe database.

Time frame data may be applicable to several situations: for example,“No Standing Anytime” where the time frame would need to indicate 24hours, so any user whose geolocation data shows a location that is in aNo Standing Anytime zone may receive a notification at any time. Timeframe data may also be applicable to alternate-side parking, for streetsthat do not allow parking during certain times due to government streetcleaning services, which for example is usually applicable for half anhour (e.g. 9 AM-9:30 AM) or temporary tow zones notices, which forexample are usually applicable for a day or a few days. The database mayconnect with the computing device to send an automatic notification,reminding the user to move a vehicle due to street cleaning rules.

Although government websites may provide information on locations andthe applicable rules for parking signs, the data might not be completeor may be unavailable. Therefore, the user engagement panel allows foruser reporting of parking sign information, which may be used togenerate a notification. The user engagement panel may also allow a userto update parking restriction conditions to indicate for example, thecondition has been changed temporarily or permanently, etc. Thegovernment agency or law enforcement agency, such as the policedepartment may release information on their websites or post a temporarynotice on the street regarding a temporary notice of “No Parking” areason certain streets for certain time. Temporary notices also include noparking notices due to some special events, for example gatherings, roadrepairs, movie productions, etc. However, people might not know of ormight not necessarily see these notices posted on the parking sign orthe notices might not readily be apparent; when a user parks his or hervehicle the user may be notified by the processing apparatus of anyapplicable temporary notices for these reasons. When a user discoversthe information, the user can report the notice to the user engagementpanel and upload a picture of the notice, whereby the database may applythe stated parking rule to the whole street. As a result, a user who hasparked his or her vehicle on the applicable street during the applicabletime frame and/or distance frame restrictions or who has indicated inthe settings that he or she wants to receive a notification for anytemporary notices on the street may receive a notification. The centralcomputing system may prevent this user from potentially receiving aticket or being towed away since the notification may warn the user ofthe temporary notice. This reporting method may also be applicable toother situations where any RRLC may be updated if the database does notdetect it by itself. A user may submit and upload any relevantinformation through various media that include but are not limited to:photos or images from cameras, sensors, videos, hand drawn pictures,written descriptions, and any other mediums to accurately describe thesituation for the location through the user engagement panel. Toencourage a user to report the discovery of any changes in RRLC, a usermay earn rewards. The system administrator may also hire employees orthird-party contractors to report the temporary notices so anotification may be sent to the user.

There may be an occasion when the processing apparatus may find aparking violation by directly correlating the user type with the presentlocation and the present time in mining the database for parkingviolation related data. A direct correlation may be in such a case wherethere has been a parking violation citation issued at the currentlocation at the current time, which was issued based on a parkingprohibition relating to the same user type, and also relating to thesame type of vehicle or type of vehicle plate. For example, a directcorrelation may be when a non-commercial vehicle user is given anotification that warns against parking at Location X at 5:15 PM on aTuesday because there is data in the database which matches thesituation: a non-commercial vehicle receiving a parking violationcitation for parking at Location X at 5:15 PM on a previous Tuesday. Atleast these three points-type of vehicle, location, and present time-allcorrelate directly. In this instance, a potential parking prohibitiondoes not need to be inferred, as there is an exact data point whichestablishes the basis for the notification.

The processor or processing apparatus may execute instructions to infera parking prohibition based on location to warn a user about thepotential risk of receiving a parking violation citation at the user'sintended parking location. The processing apparatus may analyze parkingviolation related data that is available in the database for thesurrounding locations and compare such data with RRLC. If the intendedparking location of the user falls between at least two locations with arecord of previously incurred parking violation citations applicable tothe user type of the user, the processing apparatus may infer that theuser may receive a parking violation citation at that intended parkinglocation. Parking violation related data may also be analyzed to predicta potential parking violation applicable to the user by inference. Theinference may be based on at least one of at least one relevant parkinglocation, at least one relevant parking time, at least one relevantparking location corresponding to at least one predetermined time frame,where the identified time is within the predetermined time frame, and/orat least two parking violation citations previously issued for at leasttwo parking locations for violating a parking prohibition, where theidentified location is between the at least two parking locations thatare a predetermined distance from each other, where the at least twoparking locations correspond to one relevant parking time, and whereeach of the at least two parking locations is associated with a sametype of parking violation citation. To properly make an inference, eachof the two previously incurred parking violation citations may be basedon the same reasons or same type of prohibition or violation, and thatreason may correspond to the inference. Those reasons may be the reasonfor the same parking violation citation, such as parking in a No ParkingAny Time zone. An inference may not be made accurately if one parkingviolation citation is for an expired meter fee while the other parkingviolation citations is for parking in a loading zone.

Furthermore, some parking violation citations may not be the basis of aninference such as a parking violation citation issued for the reason ofan expired meter. The distance between locations which the intendedparking location falls between may depend on various factors. One factorwhich may affect the distance between those two locations may be whatRRLC applies. For instance, the distance may be shorter if that distanceis based on a fire-hydrant parking rule; if there was for example a15-foot parking prohibition on each side of a fire hydrant, the parkingviolation citations may only be within 30 feet. In another example,there is a parking prohibition relating to parking on a road runningalongside a military base. The distance between two locations may begreater because the scale of the parking prohibition. In this example,an inference based on location can be made where the distance betweenthe two locations may be greater because of an RRLC of greater scale.The central computing system may predetermine this distance based on theapplicable RRLC. In addition, the distance may be predetermined based onlocation, where the distance in a denser city with higher instances ofparking violation citations may be smaller than that of a rural areawith low instances of parking violation citations. The predetermineddistance between locations may be on the same side of the street on acity block, or it may be a shorter predetermined distance betweenlocations. For example, the database has a record of a parking violationcitation received by a vehicle at Location A, address being 130 31stAvenue. The database also has a record of a parking violation citationreceived by the same or different vehicle parked at Location C, addressbeing 134 31st Avenue. The processing apparatus may analyze theseparking violation citations to infer that the same or different vehicleparked at Location B, address being 132 31st Avenue, may receive aparking violation citation. In this example, the predetermined distancerelates to three addresses along the same side of 31st Avenue: 130, 132,and 134.

The processor or processing apparatus may execute instructions to infera parking prohibition based on time to warn a user about the potentialrisk of receiving a parking violation citation at the user's intendedparking location at the present time. Thus, the processing apparatus mayanalyze parking violation related data that is available in the databasefor the user's intended parking location and that carries a timestampclose to the present time. If present time is associated with at leastone parking violation citation within a predetermined time frame, theprocessing apparatus may infer that the user may receive a parkingviolation citation at that intended parking location at the presenttime. The predetermined time frame may be predetermined based onapplicable RRLC, or the predetermined time frame may be a time framethat is a time frame based on the time of issuance of a parkingviolation citation. This time frame may also be a time frame such asone, two, or three hours, or a larger time frame such as ten hours orany other duration depending on relevant factors, such as a prohibitionfor street sweeping which applies for an hour and a half. Anotherparking prohibition may be no parking between 9 am and 5 pm, where thetime frame may be an eight (8) hour time frame. For example, thedatabase has a record of a parking violation citation received by avehicle parked at Location A at 9:13 am, where the known RRLC is aparking prohibition due to street sweeping which applies from 9:00am-10:30 am. The time frame in this scenario may be predetermined to bean hour and a half based on the duration of the street sweepingprohibition. The processing apparatus may analyze the parking violationcitation to infer that the same or different vehicle parked at LocationA may receive a parking violation citation if a user parks at 9:51 am,because 9:51 am is within the predetermined time frame. In anotherscenario, the database has a record of a parking violation citation atLocation “H” at 7:15 pm. A notification may be issued to a user whointends to park at Location “H” at 7:21 pm. This notification may beissued because 7:21 falls within the same half-hour time frame as theparking violation citation.

The processor or processing apparatus may also execute instructions toinfer a parking prohibition based on time by analyzing similar times ondifferent days of the week. If the times are at the same time every day,or at the same time on the same day, the processing apparatus may inferthat there may be a parking prohibition at this time on this day, orthis time every day. For example, a vehicle at Location B at 9:30 am onTuesday receives a parking violation citation. The same or differentvehicle at Location B at 9:30 am on Wednesday receives a parkingviolation citation. The same or different vehicle at Location B at 9:30am on Thursday receives a parking violation citation. The processingapparatus may analyze these parking violation citations to infer thatthe same or different vehicle parked at Location B at 9:30 am on aFriday may most likely receive a parking violation citation. In anotherexample, a vehicle at Location “C” at 9:30 am on Tuesday, September 1streceives a parking violation citation. The same or different vehicle atLocation “C” at 9:30 am on Tuesday, September 8th receives a parkingviolation citation. The processing apparatus may analyze these parkingviolation citations to infer that the same or different vehicle parkedat Location “C” at 9:30 am on Tuesday, September 15th may receive aparking violation citation. One of ordinary skill in the art mayappreciate that a notification based on an inference may not becompletely accurate, as implied by the word “infer.” However, it is alsoto be understood that a notification may be corrected, updated, andsupplemented by ratings from users. A notification containinginformation about an inference is valuable for a user because it may besent to a user even when there may not be a large store of informationavailable; in this manner a user may be given reasonably accurateinformation in situations with potentially little data regarding parkingviolations.

A user may receive a parking violation citation notification from thesystem. The user having firsthand experience with the notification forthis location can then rate this notification based on the inferences.The positive ratings are used to verify that the inferred violation isaccurate. When the inferred violation reaches a certain number ofpositive ratings that may be predetermined, the processing apparatusconfirms the validity of the inferred violation. The inferred violationmay then become a direct correlation violation and may no longer need tobe inferred by the apparatus, as it may be a permanent notificationuntil verified contradicting information proves otherwise, where wheninferred potential parking violations reach a predetermined number ofnegative user ratings, the notification which conveys the inference maybe withdrawn. This may also happen when there is a parking violationcitation that is issued in a location that has an inferred potentialviolation. For example, when an inference is proven by a citation atsome point, that information regarding the inferred potential violationmay be changed to reflect a direct application of database data.

Since violation codes may be different depending on the agency thatissues tickets and collects ticket penalties, violation codes data inputinto the database may include violation codes from various agenciesand/or statutory codes as they appear when written into law. Forexample, in New York City, a parking ticket may state the Department ofFinance Violation Code as “14,” which means “General No Standing:Standing or parking where standing is not allowed by sign, streetmarking or; traffic control device,” and state “In violation of NYCTraffic Rules, Section: 4-08(c) No Standing.” Accordingly, availableparking rules data, for example, Chapter 4 Section 4-08 of Title 34 ofthe Rules of NYC and also Violation Code data from the Department ofFinance may be entered into the database. The central computing systemmay use these violation codes with the matching section codes and theirrespective meanings, which are stored in the database, to infer the timeframe and distance frame to which the no standing rule applies as nostanding is usually for 24 hours and may extend for a whole streetblock. If a user does not participate by reporting, then the systemadministrator may hire an employee to physically inspect the locationand verify the distance frame. The processing apparatus may use thisinformation to accurately alert the user based on the vehicle's distanceor time frame. Though inferences might not be 100 percent accurate allthe time, as there are sometimes exceptions to rules on a certain streetbetween two similar locations, the combination of knowing the codes thatunderlie the reasons for getting a ticket in the first place and havinga user rate the notification and the information allows for thatpotential inaccuracy to be accounted for. Tying a notification back to auser engagement panel may increase efficiency and accuracy, allowing thenotification to be corrected, updated, and supplemented too.

The system may alert the user when the user is parking in or near a towzone area which includes but is not limited to private parking only,permit only, temporary road repairs, access for emergency services, anddriveways which cannot be blocked. Other situations may includehandicapped parking, reserved parking, parking permit only, and anyother parking spaces designated for special purposes, wherein specialpurposes parking locations may be reported by one or more users,interested individuals, private entities, and the system administratorwho may also collect such information from informational sources. “Noparking,” “Tow away zone,” “24 hours active driveway” etc. are usuallyindicated with lines, signs and/or words that state for example, “TowZone” or “Private Parking Only.” Tow away zone information may include atime frame when parking is illegal at an identified location of the userand the user's vehicle; the distance to or from the tow away zone whereparking is illegal; and information about private and public tow awayzones, along with relevant information about towing companies and costsand penalties associated with the user's vehicle being towed away.

People who are authorized to manage such spaces subject to towing canregister towing information, or a user can report this information,which may be used by the central computing system to notify other userswho are not authorized to park in the space at any time. Importanttowing information includes but is not limited to location of the towzone, towing company name and telephone number, penalty for parking inthe tow zone, and other relevant contact information. Drivers whoillegally park their vehicles in a tow zone may be alerted about theparking violations and penalty through a notification based oninformation saved in the database. If a user parks illegally and theirvehicle has been towed, the user may check the parking location bypressing a button on the display of the computing device to show thetowing information such as the phone number, towing penalties, and othercontact information if it has been registered by the people who areauthorized to manage or access such tow zone space. The user may usethis information to easily call to find out where the vehicle has beentowed. Both time and resources may be saved because a user is deterredfrom parking in the space if the user knows it is a tow zone and hasinformation about the penalties. Tow zone areas may also be indicated onthe map display through different colors to reflect that temporaryparking is not allowed, for example, due to a temporary tow zone noticefor road repairs. A user may upload images of the posted temporary towzone signs when reporting the notice, and then the system may notifyanother user through a notification which is subject to positive andnegative ratings.

The processor or processing apparatus may be in communication with acentral computing system to process the information reported from one ormore users who enter such information and upload images of their ticketviolations and to generate one or more applicable notifications withparking violation related data corresponding to the identified presentlocation of the user and the user type of the user. While ticketinformation may be processed and used to create or update anotification, ticket reporting from one or more users is also connectedto the ticket sharing user engagement panel. After receiving thisticket, the user can access the user-engagement panel to report thelocation of the violation. The user may identify the type of parkingticket to be reported from a menu of available pre-determined types. Amulti-level menu system can be used to guide the user to a selection,which identifies the type of possible ticket type. The server receivesthe report and the user's geolocation and determines additionalcontextual information that may be provided by the user and/or theuser's computing device from the stored user profile. The processingapparatus may also collect user supplemented information including, butnot limited to, personal knowledge and/or ticket information with thetime of the violation, the exact location as printed or written on theticket, and the reasons for the violation, etc. A user may also berequired to enter information such as photographs, videos, and writtenexplanations to share their ideas on why the violation occurred in theform in connecting with the parking violation location.

There may usually be two types of tickets: either a handwritten ormachine generated ticket from a law enforcement officer or a machinegenerated ticket from a street camera image. Different law enforcementagencies may also use different forms for ticket violations. Any userreported information may include the information such as location, time,reasons, and also any suggestions, advice and/or solutions the user cancontribute in order to share knowledge to educate other users to avoidthe same type of violation again. The person who receives the ticket maybe in the best position to submit suggestions, advice and/or solutionsbased on personal experience

The user may supplement reported information with photos of the locationand any written explanations in addition to the photographs in the userengagement panel that are connected to the location of the violation. Ifthe user takes a picture of the ticket to upload to the database, theapplication may allow the user to edit the image with an image editingfunction by covering, blurring, or redacting information and/orsharpening the image prior to uploading the picture. A user may cover orblur parts of the images with sensitive information, for example name,plate number, or vehicle identification number, etc. Using opticalcharacter recognition to sharpen blurry images increases the successrate for a computer to recognize the information in the image. As analternative, the database may also allow a user to scan the parkingviolation citation by utilizing a camera with scanner softwaredownloaded on a computing device.

Reported information may be subject to review and/or ratings by thesystem administrator and also other users to ensure that credibleinformation is being collected to provide a notification. Comments,suggestions, etc. may be listed in the user engagement panel accordingto ratings, and the ones with the highest number of positive ratings maybe listed at the top, so other users can clearly view the postings togain the best knowledge. The user may be allowed to report to the systemadministrator any potentially inaccurate information with applicableproof. The system administrator may be able to open a case where anemployee and/or user may be sent to conduct an investigation of thepurported inaccurate information to verify the quality of theinformation. A reward may be provided for the user who may have assistedin the investigation.

The central computing system may provide an informational andeducational function, where it provides a notification that may givespecific reasons and suggestions on how to avoid the same violation anddisplays the historical summary of the violation to persuade the user tonot take a chance at parking in a location with parking violations andso the user may know about a violation in advance.

An exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure may utilize anincentive method since the database incorporates at least a method ofcrowdsourcing data from one or more users through means of a userengagement panel. Crowdsourcing relies on the participation of a largenumber of people who are incentivized for participation. Basically, thisincentive method allows a user to post and share parking violationrelated data to gain positive ratings, a predetermined number of whichmay earn them one or more rewards. In this method, the user may berewarded based upon the user's proactive effort to report ticketinformation with efficiency, helpfulness, and accuracy. When a userreceives a ticket, the user has the option to dispute or pay the ticketbefore the deadline. The user may receive positive ratings after theticket information is complete and submitted to the user engagementpanel. Alternatively, a user may search the database for parkingviolation related data regarding a particular location, and then provideratings for that parking violation related data. As an incentive forusers to search for and rate parking violation related data for aparticular location, the system may issue an award or reward for suchratings upon those rating reaching a predetermined number.

A reward may be issued to the first user who reports ticket informationat a location that has no prior ticket history of parking violations inthe database. The amount the user may receive may be the total amountstated on the user's ticket or an amount that is set by the systemadministrator according to the amount of positive ratings received forproviding ticket information along with comments and recommendations onhow to avoid parking violation citations (e.g., parking at theidentified location may be illegal or not allowable at the identifiedtime, such as the present time, but may be legal or allowable at acertain time, such as five minutes after the identified time, at theidentified location). Similarly, the user's identified location (e.g.,current location) may be deemed illegal or not allowable, but if theuser moves forward or backward a certain distance such as two feet orten feet, the user's location may then be legal or allowable at theidentified time and new location. It will be appreciated that variouscombinations of such time and location recommendations may be includedin notifications to the user. Through rewards, a user may incur nolosses from ticket violations and may also educate others to bettercomply with RRLC by sharing ideas to avoid future parking ticketviolations. The reward system may involve several steps. In order to beeligible, the user may be required to be the first user to fully reportnew ticket information in detail for that specific location that did nothave any prior ticket history by reporting the date; the time from theissued ticket with specific information on the reasons for the ticket;and giving beneficial suggestions, ideas, and/or advice on how to avoidthe same violation. The first user who shares the full details of theticket information and receives a certain number of ratings may receivea reward. However, other users may be allowed to enter ticketinformation if the ticket for the same location indicates differentreasons or violations which may qualify for a reward. The applicationmay allow a user to take a photo of the ticket, which may be redacted orsharpened before submission as described. Each location may allow forthe submission of one original ticket report which may allow one user togain a reward. However, the system administrator may change the type ofreward and/or amount of reward to different users who report parkingticket information by descriptions in different circumstances. Forexample, a reward for the first user may pay double amount of the rewardor give a gift as a monetary reward. Also, a user who activelyparticipates in supplying crowdsourced information may do so withoutexpecting to be rewarded. In this case, the user may opt out ofreceiving rewards through settings in the user engagement panel or maysimply decline a reward when one is being offered.

Tickets issued by law enforcement officers may indicate a date whichserves as the deadline for paying the ticket violation. An incentive tothe user is rewarding efficient and useful reporting to help other userspay for their tickets through a reward system. Incentives are crucial toobtaining both an active participation from one or more users and alsofor obtaining accurate and truthful information. Active participation isimportant because statistical analysis depends upon a large group ofdata and it is important to continuously obtain real-time data ofcurrent situations.

For quality control purposes, a verification system may be implemented.For rewards, the user engagement panel may track ratings, so that a usermight only endorse one time for every ticket report. Additionally, theuser may only rate the notification of potential parking violations ifthe user has personally experienced and/or received such notificationwhen a user's geolocation is indicated to be within a predeterminedradius of the location with violations. Such a user who has received thenotification based on their firsthand experience can either endorse(positive) or rebut (negative) when rating the notification. Allowingfor the rating and verification system, the user engagement panel mayensure that the ratings are up to date. A notification is rated, and anotification that contains inaccurate information and is negativelyrated can be flagged and corrected, and a notification that is ratedhighly can remain. In turn, a new notification based on new informationmay be rated in the future, which may lead to further rating in thefuture. For example, this may be the cycle that keeps the data in thedatabase updated regarding any changes or inaccuracies.

The process by which the database is kept current involves, in part, auser rating the notification that the user receives. Because anotification is based on data points that relate to parking informationwithin the database, when a user rates the notification, he or she isalso rating the data contained in the notification. Through thoseratings, it can be determined if the data is accurate or applicable to aparticular parking location. If the data turns out to not be accurate orapplicable, it can be used to correct, update, and supplement parkingviolation related data in the database based on user feedback. If itturns out to be accurate and/or applicable, then the correctness of thedata may be reinforced through the feedback. The notification that auser may receive may consist of information regarding a specific parkinglocation. The notification may convey to the user that there are notcurrently any parking prohibitions in place that relate to the parkinglocation, or it may inform the user about relevant rules or regulationsthat are currently in effect. The user can then rate that notification,either positively or negatively (e.g., whether it was correct orincorrect). The process can be illuminated through an example of anotification informing a user that there were no parking prohibitions ineffect when in fact the user's parking location was subject to atemporary prohibition regarding street sweeping. In this case, the usermay, on the user interface, rate the notification (e.g., provide anegative rating). A user may substantiate a negative rating bysubmitting proof that the notification or crowdsourced information wasinaccurate. The user, in this example, may take a picture of the signthat announced when the street sweeping was in effect, or any otherrelevant signage. This feedback is collected along with the ratings,which may update the database to reflect the new user-submitted data. Ifthe data that the user provides through this negative rating turns outto be accurate, it may be used to correct, update, and supplement thedatabase.

However, the data or information provided by negative ratings would haveto be past a predetermined number to overturn a notification. If anegative rating and its corresponding information have not passed thepredetermined number, the user's negative rating may be shown in thenotification by including an indication that a small percentage of usershave rated the notification negatively and/or as inaccurate. When thosenegative ratings do reach the predetermined number, the new informationprovided through those ratings may replace the existing relevant data inthe database. This in turn updates the content of the notification thatis issued. In the above street sweeping example, if the user is thefirst to indicate that there is a relevant street sweeping regulation,and the user engagement panel receives ten more negative ratings sayingthat the notification in effect is incorrect, supported with informationsimilar or the same to the first user, then once there has been enoughsubmissions or ratings, the database may be corrected, updated, andsupplemented based on this corroborated information. How much is“enough” may be predetermined, such as 10, 25, 35 ratings orsubmissions, etc., or it could be based on the percentage of totalratings. For example, a 25%, 10%, or 1% negative rating threshold maytrigger a data review. The predetermined number of ratings may alsodiffer based on location. In a busy location such as Midtown Manhattan,the density of parking violations and the demand for specific parkinglocations may be higher than in more rural areas. In addition, there maybe more users sharing or rating the parking violation related data.Therefore, these different locations may have different standards forpredetermining a number. Regardless of location, once the informationsubmitted reaches that predetermined number, it may be incorporated intothe database. The user who is the first to provide correctiveinformation may be provided with a monetary or non-monetary reward forbeing the first to contribute new and useful information that isincorporated into the database, which gives incentive to a user toprovide accurate and timely information, therefore keeping the databasecurrent.

Ticket violations are legal documents and may be subject to disputes.When a user may want to dispute the ticket violation, the userengagement panel in connection with a specific location of a parkingcitation may be useful because other users may comment on their personalsituations on whether a dispute is likely to be successful or meritless.Crowdsourced data may be collected within the user engagement panel, forparking violation related dispute information from one or more users inorder to assist users with useful dispute information. This disputeinformation may also be useful for a user who encounters a lawenforcement officer and can use this information to discuss and explainthe situation to the law enforcement officer. The user may show the lawenforcement officer that, in fact, other users who have received thespecific parking ticket violation have disputed it in court and havewon. The law enforcement officer, who is now informed of the situation,may or may not issue the ticket violation or may revoke the ticketviolation as a result if the officer has the discretion to do so. Thismethod may save a user money because if the dispute has merit, asreported by others, the user may win the case. If the dispute does nothave merit, as reported by other users, then the user may decide to justpay the fine and not dispute the ticket. Information related to disputesmay be used to inform other users of ticket dispute successprobabilities. The system administrator may also hire professionals, whomay specialize in parking ticket disputes, to assist in resolvingdispute issues in the user engagement panel. The application may allow auser to check dispute success probabilities through pressing a button onthe display that connects to the database of parking violation ticketsreceived by other users. Accordingly, a user may be educated on how touse legal remedies with efficiency.

The system, via the user engagement panel, may also educate a user onthe process of disputing tickets if a dispute is meritorious. It isoften the case that a user is unsure whether to dispute, and how todispute the ticket violation when they do. The user may utilizecrowdsourced ticket dispute information from other users to find outwhether a ticket has a good chance of being dismissed if disputed basedon information submitted by other users. The dispute procedures mayinclude information on the types of evidence that may be collected andsubmitted to the proper authority who adjudicates the dispute. The usermay also be allowed to search and connect with third parties, such aslawyers who are experienced in disputing ticket violations, whereby theapplication may allow the user to email pictures and other types ofdocuments to the third-party directly from the application. The userengagement panel functionality may also allow a user to shareinformation on their hearing and results of their hearing for theirtickets. Other users may use this information as a reference for futurehearings since a user may be able to see other users who may have gottenthe same type of ticket in the same location for the same reasons. Thisinformation may be collected to conduct analyses on locations that mayhave unusual ticketing activity to initiate guidelines to the user.

The application may alert the user to avoid the parking violation ticketby notifying the user through email, text message, phone call, phonealert, voice mail etc. automatically at the choice of the user who setthis in advance in the settings. Functionalities, notably the userreporting function, may connect to third party APIs to providevoice-to-text capabilities. A user who utilizes the voice-to-textfunction may record their voice by speaking their statements into themicrophone which may be connected to the computing device, wherestatements may be converted to text. Accordingly, a user might notnecessarily have to enter information manually and may submitinformation by recording their voice statements.

The geolocation of each individual user may be recorded while driving,along with the user's speed, in which a slow speed of 1-3 mph, forexample, may be indicative of the intent to park within a certain radiusof the intended destination as preset by the user. Based on the user'sgeolocation and speed, an inquiry may be sent which asks for example,“Parking?” If the user chooses “Yes” then any parking violations withina predetermined radius of a specific parking location may be identified,and the notification may be applicable to the user type of that user. Togenerate a notification, the processing apparatus may query differentdata sets within the database for example, any historical citationinformation currently available; RRLC applicable to the user type ofthat user, the user's present location, and present time; anyadministrative notices or temporary notices applicable to the user typeof that user, present location, and present time etc. If the user doesnot respond to the alert after a certain time, for example, 3 seconds,then the inquiry may disappear automatically. The user may receive aninquiry for the parking intent, when the user's geolocation is within apredetermined proximity of the intended destination, which may be acertain number of feet as set by the user. The user may also set thenumber of notifications the user would like to receive (e.g., a user maywant to receive an inquiry or notification once, twice, or the usermight not want to receive any notification, etc.). If the user does notrespond to the notification, the processing apparatus may stop sendingthe notification after it reaches the number of instances previously setby the user. After this, the user may press a button on the display ifthe user would like to view the potential parking violation notificationinformation for the current location. Since a road map may be integratedin the database, if the vehicle slows down or stops in the middle of theroad due to traffic or other reasons, or is outside the radius of theintended destination, the central computing system may recognize suchlocation through the geolocation GPS coordinates and speed data and mayautomatically know to not send a parking intent notification sinceparking is not allowed in the middle of the road because it may blockthe street. The notification may appear on the display of the computingdevice or may include the option for a voice alert. According to anembodiment herein, parking intent of the user is identified bydetermining and analyzing the current instantaneous speed, through theaccelerometer, and the proximity to the intended destination, throughthe location identifier. When the user shows parking intent, thedatabase may be checked for any potential parking violation citationsapplicable to the location depending on the time and day. When parkingintent is identified, the notification that appears will be for parkingviolation related data found within a predetermined radius of the userwith parking intent. The predetermined radius may be preset by the userto be a certain distance because a user may prefer a radius of 500 feetof a destination whereas another user may prefer a predetermined radiusof one thousand (1,000) feet. If a user does not preset this, there maybe default settings for the predetermined radius, which may differdepending on the location. For example, a default setting for apredetermined radius may depend on the city in which a user is located.

The system may also connect with third party weather APIs to retrievehistorical weather information for the specific location to predictfuture parking situations where weather may have an impact on parkingviolations based on indications of increased parking violations duringcertain weather conditions. During similar weather circumstances, a userof any parking restrictions which may apply in the location where theuser may intend to park. For example, if the central computing systemdetects through a weather API and geolocation that the user intends topark in a location subject to any expected snowfall or floods, it maycompare this information to the historical parking violation relateddata within the database to find out if there may be any weather-relatedparking restrictions and increasing number of parking violations in thelocation which may be applicable. The user may receive a notificationwhen the weather forecast is similar to situations from historical datathat reflect an increase in the number of violations for a certain areadue to the same weather conditions. For example, the historical data fora certain location showed an increase in parking violations when thereis snowfall. The historical data shows the increase in parkingviolations was a result of the snow covering up a fire hydrant, leadingdrivers to believe they can park in the location since they cannot seethe fire hydrant. Accordingly, if there have been previous violationsdue to specific weather-related reasons, a user may be directed to findan alternative parking location to avoid potential parking violationcitations.

The computing device can be integrated with in-dash systems to enablefull function within a vehicle. This integration is not limited toin-dash systems and may also be integrated in the vehicle by originalequipment manufacture or a third-party add-on equipment that may bemounted within a vehicle. The inventive disclosure uses directintegration of the disclosed parking space information system into thenavigation and GPS in an onboard computer of original equipmentmanufactured vehicles. In such embodiments the disclosed architecturecan be integrated directly into a vehicle's computer system.

When integrated into an in-dash navigation system, the vehicle's displaymay be used to show a parking notification as described above. Thein-dash integrated system embodiment can provide remote updates andcommunications to the user through the installed disclosed violationrelated information and parking violation avoidance application on theuser's computing device to alert the user for example, when the parkingtime limit is approaching expiration, impending street cleaning or othertemporary restrictions. When a user arrives at a parking spot, centralcomputing system may receive the vehicle's location and may send anotification to a user's computing device to remind the user about theapproaching parking meter expiration when applicable in addition toother relevant restrictions.

Integration may include utilization of vehicle equipment, for examplespeedometer, accelerometer, cameras, inertial sensor, gyroscope sensor,GPS sensor, and any other applicable equipment, etc. Utilization of thisvehicle equipment may be used to obtain comprehensive real-time andhistorical activity information about the vehicle, for example itsdirection, speed, orientation and acceleration, etc. in order to issuean applicable notification to the user.

A combination of hardware and software operates on an application of acomputing device and a central computing system, such as a computer,generally with one or more connections to a wireless wide area network(WAN) (e.g., the Internet). The central computing system may beconfigured to communicate with network service coordinated throughcommunication means. Combined pre-programmed features based on certainprotocols or methods of integration of basic components (i.e., servers,databases, mobile end applications, web portals, network settings, etc.)may be utilized such that the applications could be applications writtenfor ANDROID, a mobile platform developed by Google and the Open HandsetAlliance, IOS, a mobile platform developed by Apple, Inc., WINDOWSPHONE, a mobile platform developed by Microsoft Corporation, etc.

In order to dynamically update the records, an exemplary embodiment ofthe inventive disclosure may use a database or a set of databases (ordata storage media). The database may contain several data categories orgroupings. The database contains information for both historical andreal-time records, where the real time and historical sections of thedatabase may be independent or synchronized in order to retrieveinformation from both sections at the same time. The database may alsocontain records regarding a user and records from specific userengagement panels. This data could include rules and administrative dataas well as user data. Historical data is kept track of partly byassigning a tracking number or service ID number that would be assignedto ticketing or related information to help refer back to it if it comesinto question. Information that could be held within this identificationmay be information, such as the reason a ticket may have been issued,who or what agency issued it and where it took place, such as addressspecific information including house or building number, zip code,borough, city or state, how much the fine is and how the payment for theservice took place if it did.

It is to be understood by one skilled in the art that the databaseupdates and syncs dynamically whenever there are changes or updates indata blocks; the server and database may dynamically update the data toreflect the latest changes. Any backup database related to the databasemay also change accordingly to also reflect the latest changes. In anexemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure, such information maybe organized or structured in a manner allowing for effective sortingand retrieval. In an exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure,the information may be stored in a non-relational or unstructuredmanner. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that there arenumerous methods for providing, storing and organizing data in adatabase or other data storage media. Additionally, there may be atleast one backup database that may backup the primary databasefrequently in case of data loss in the primary database. Whilereferenced as a “database,” one of ordinary skill in the art wouldappreciate that in practice this could be implemented in numerousmanners, including but not limited to a data storage medium, whetherstructured or unstructured, relational or otherwise. One of ordinaryskill in the art would also appreciate that there are numerous methodsof providing databases and data storage media for the organization andretrieval of specific information, contemplated for use with anyappropriate database or storage means.

The comprehensive database may store administrative data and otherinformation. The administrative data includes any information or data,which is part of the application or other access means, comprisingsystem data such as contact and FAQ information, registration detailsregarding a user, for instance, billing or identification information orother relevant information relating to administering the service, forexample how long the user has been registered or the frequency of use.Additional data which may be input into the database includes, but isnot limited to, locations where a user traveled to, other transactiondata and details, historical data, and user engagement panelcontributions from a user.

A user may access historical records, may explore the database, and mayretrieve related data from a search function or other means. Each timean input or request from a user who wants to see related information ismade, a safe access channel with database(s) may be opened and thecentral computing system may send out the query sentences through theaccess channel to a database management module. If it is a relationaldatabase, then the data tables may have one kind of relationships, suchas one-to-many relationships, many-to-many relationships and one-to-onerelationships with other data table(s). Based on the relationshipsbetween data tables, the database(s) management module follows the querysentences and finds the specific data table(s) by using ID(s), tablenames and columns names of the tables with or without joining two ormore data tables together. If it is a non-relational database, insteadof data tables, the data may be stored in key-value pairs, then thedatabase management module follows the query sentences and finds thespecific data by using keys that query sentences provides. Whether arelational or non-relational database is used, after the database(s)management module retrieves the targeted data, then the centralcomputing system may send the search result back to the server throughthe secured access channel. Then the secured channel is closed until thenext time it needs to be opened. The relevant data that has beenorganized within the database may then be retrieved and displayed.

A geographical information system (GIS) may be used in concert with theserver for capturing, displaying, storing, manipulating, and analyzinggeographic information. To fulfill certain query operations, a GIS canextract and analyze data from the database, or data may be stored withinthe database management system (DBMS) of a GIS. A GIS may be used tovisualize the data within the database. For example, in New York City,data sources such as MapPLUTO from NYC Open Data and Open Street Mapcontain geodetic base maps. Then, an inventory of other data points suchas meter parking, locations of bus stop, commercial vehicle parking,taxi lanes, bus lanes, parking garages, street parking locations,parking restrictions, locations of fire hydrants, etc., can be gatheredand applied through a GIS and visualized on a base map. This provides away to usefully sort, access, and view the data.

GIS consists of some important components to carry out its fundamentalfunctions properly. The components of a GIS are as follows: hardware,which entails a central computer or any secondary device attached to itthat enables the GIS to be functional; software: algorithms writtenusing executable programming languages to store, analyze, and displaygeographical data and information; and data: any information to beanalyzed, such as parking locations, maps, etc. In addition, a GIS mayhave to be maintained by a technician or some other qualified personwith knowledge of the precise upkeep procedures, especially thoseconcerned with adjusting system functions to an organization's need fora GIS. Different classes or models of a GIS may also be used fordifferent applications. For example, a GIS such as a field model may benecessary to analyze data which changes over continuous areas. Discretemodels may be used to analyze data which relates to points in atwo-dimensional space. Finally, network models may be used to analyzetwo points connected by a series of points, such as points along ahighway or a railroad.

Data may be cross-platform and thus may be accessed through differentcomputing devices, such as web portal and/or applications, at the sametime where desired. The different components within the computingdevice, which may be in many different forms such as tablet computers,cellular devices, smartphones, laptop computers, personal computers(PCs), in-vehicle navigation, and/or servers, or any other communicationenabled devices may interact and communicate to share information. Auser may use a computing device to access modules provided to the userthrough an application on the user's computing device.

The administration may also be handled through another module differentfrom the one used by a user. In such a case, a user would not need thesame features as a system administrator. One of ordinary skill in theart would appreciate the many different forms and functions of computingdevices and understand that the exemplary embodiment of the inventivedisclosure could be carried out with any, and also understand that thedifferent types of user demand different functionalities.

The user may communicate, for example, using any approach forcommunicating data over one or more networks or to one or moreperipheral devices connected a computing device. Communicationsapproaches may include, but are not limited to, circuitry and controlsystems for providing wireless connections, wired connections, cellularconnections, data port connections, Bluetooth connections, or anycombination thereof. One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciatethat there are numerous approaches for communications that may beutilized.

A user module with which a user interacts is dynamic and may be adjustedaccording to specific location. The user module may be connected throughthe server, for instance, through bi-directional wireless communicationconfigured to show location data on the electronic map display and otherdata as input from a user. Displayed features may be specific to thelocation or region that the computing device is located in, so thatregion-specific information may be provided on the display interface.

An exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure may also adjust usermodule features, including the content displayed as part of a userinterface features, based on other user selections and preferences. Anapplication, a map component, a map database, and a location identifier,such as, for example, a GPS module or other circuitry for providing LBSdata may be integrated for certain location identification functions.The GPS determines the location of the computing devices in differentways, for example through receiving location-based resources. One ofordinary skill in the art would appreciate that there are numerousapproaches for providing location identification and location-basedservices. A GPS-enabled system or device allows the tracking componentsto identify the location of a user. According to an exemplary embodimentof the inventive disclosure, the user's current location can bedetermined by a location identifier. The location identifier candetermine the location of the computing device in different ways. In oneexample, the location identifier can be instantiated through processingof received GPS data from location-based or geo-aware resources of thecomputing device. In addition, the location identifier can also receiveGPS data from other applications or programs that operate on thecomputing device. For example, a computing device may communicate withone or more other applications using one or more APIs. The applicationcan use the location information to cause a user interface component toconfigure a user interface framework based on the location information.

The region may be identified by a zip code or a city name or ametropolitan area name in which the computing device is currentlylocated. Region-specific information about the parking relatedinformation may be provided in part. Preferences or limitations whichare locationally based depend in part on GPS-enabled devices.

The components may be combined to provide user module features that arespecific to user selections and user locations, and/or real-timeconditions to enable a user to receive parking violation relatedinformation. For instance, the application can correspond to a programthat is downloaded onto a smartphone or other portable computer devicesuch as a tablet computer or personal digital assistant (PDA). A usercan download and install the application on a computing device andregister the computing device.

User interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a homepage userinterface, a user engagement panel that is used for one or more users toshare or exchange ideas about avoiding parking violation citations, asummary interface, a location user interface, a database accessinterface, or a combination of any of the features described. One ofordinary skill in the art would appreciate that there are numerous userinterfaces that could be utilized and are contemplated for use with anyappropriate user interface.

The application can retrieve a user's information and other data that isstored in the database. In some implementations, the database can bestored remotely and user information can be retrieved from thedatabase(s). The application can use the data stored in the database toidentify previous locations with parking violation related data.

An exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure, as describedherein, is not limited to applications involving conventional computerprograms or programmable apparatuses that run them. It is contemplated,for example, that embodiments of the invention could include an opticalcomputer, quantum computer, analog computer, or the like. Each elementin flowchart illustrations may depict a step, or group of steps, of acomputer-implemented method. Further, each step may contain one or moresub-steps. For the purpose of illustration, these steps (as well as anyand all other steps identified and described above) are presented inorder. It may be understood that an embodiment can contain an alternateorder of the steps adapted to a particular application of a techniquedisclosed herein. All such variations and modifications are intended tofall within the scope of this disclosure. The depiction and descriptionof steps in any particular order is not intended to exclude embodimentshaving the steps in a different order, unless required by a particularapplication, explicitly stated, or otherwise clear from the context. Theelements depicted in flowchart illustrations and block diagramsthroughout the figures imply logical boundaries between the elements.However, according to software or hardware engineering practices, thedepicted elements and the functions thereof may be implemented as partsof a monolithic software structure, as standalone software modules, oras modules that employ external routines, code, services, and so forth,or any combination of these. All such implementations are within thescope of the present disclosure.

In view of the foregoing, it may now be appreciated that elements of theblock diagrams and flowchart illustrations support combinations ofelements for performing the specified functions, combinations of stepsfor performing the specified functions, program instruction media forperforming the specified functions, and so on, whether the steps areperformed automatically or not.

It may be appreciated that computer program instructions may includecomputer executable code. A variety of languages for expressing computerprogram instructions are possible, including without limitation C, C++,Java, JavaScript, Python, assembly language, Lisp, and so on. Suchlanguages may include assembly languages, hardware descriptionlanguages, database programming languages, functional programminglanguages, imperative programming languages, and so on. In someembodiments, computer program instructions can be stored, compiled, orinterpreted to run on a computer, a programmable data processingapparatus, a heterogeneous combination of processors or processorarchitectures, and so on.

In some embodiments, a computer enables execution of computer programinstructions including multiple programs or threads. The multipleprograms or threads may be processed more or less simultaneously toenhance utilization of the processor and to facilitate substantiallysimultaneous functions. By way of implementation, any and all methods,program codes, program instructions, and the like described herein maybe implemented in one or more threads. The one or more threads can spawnother threads, which can themselves have assigned priorities associatedwith them. In some embodiments, a computer can process these threadsbased on priority or any other order based on instructions provided inthe program code.

Unless explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context, the verbs“execute” and “process” are used interchangeably to indicate execute,process, interpret, compile, assemble, link, load, any and allcombinations of the foregoing or the like. Therefore, embodiments thatexecute or process computer program instructions, computer-executablecode, or the like can suitably act upon the instructions or code in anyand all of the ways just described.

The invention may be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines,programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that performparticular tasks or implement particular data types. The computerprogram and data may be fixed in any form (e.g., source code form,computer executable form, or an intermediate form) either permanently ortransitorily in a tangible storage medium, such as a semiconductormemory device (e.g., a RAM, ROM, PROM, EEPROM, or Flash-ProgrammableRAM), a magnetic memory device (e.g., a diskette or fixed hard disk), anoptical memory device (e.g., a CD-ROM or DVD), a PC card (e.g., PCMCIAcard), or other memory device. The computer program and data may befixed in any form in a signal that is transmittable to a computer usingany of various communication technologies, including, but in no waylimited to, analog technologies, digital technologies, opticaltechnologies, wireless technologies, networking technologies, andinternetworking technologies. The computer program and data may bedistributed in any form as a removable storage medium with accompanyingprinted or electronic documentation (e.g., shrink wrapped software or amagnetic tape), preloaded with a computer system (e.g., on system ROM orfixed disk), or distributed from a server or electronic bulletin boardover the communication system. It is appreciated that any of thesoftware components of the inventive disclosure may, if desired, beimplemented in ROM (read-only memory) form. The software components may,generally, be implemented in hardware, if desired, using conventionaltechniques.

Exemplary embodiments of the inventive disclosure may be used by membersof the general public and/or computer systems which include but is notlimited to: professionals, civilians, vehicles, websites, robots,in-vehicle systems, Global Positioning Satellites (GPS), and/or othersystems. It is also intended that the inventive disclosure may be usednot only within an application of a computing device, which may includeprimarily of smartphones, tablet computers, laptop computers, in-dashvehicle systems, etc., but may also be enlarged to encompass othersystems or services which may process, utilize, and display the parkingviolation-related data, for example, contributions to the field ofinformation services for online mapping companies and GPS manufacturers,smart phone or mobile device manufacturers, wireless service providers,application creators and developers, and mobile operating systemdevelopers and distributors, automated vehicle systems that do notrequire a physical driver in the vehicle etc.

Features of an exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure mayprovide a user with one or more visual and/or audio notifications. Theseone or more notifications may be provided on a user's in-vehiclenavigation system, or they may be provided on a separate computingdevice, such as a smartphone or tablet through wired or wirelessconnection. Any feature may integrate with a platform or applicationprogram interface (API) to provide features which cannot be implementedon certain devices. In cases where vehicles already have an in-vehiclenavigation system, parking violation related data may be provided to aninformation processing center that will process the data to be used.After the data is processed, it may go through a sub-system forinformation provisioning, and then be delivered to a user's in-vehiclenavigation system. In vehicles that do not have an in-vehicle navigationsystem, parking violation related data may be integrated into one ormore computing devices, which may be GPS enabled.

Detailed description of the figures herein with the figures aresupplemental for further detailed description of the invention, toexplain the invention for better understanding. Accordingly, thefollowing descriptions and figures are to be regarded as illustrative innature and not restrictive. In the description of the figures below, itis understood that the details described above may be combined with orused in place of similar attributes described below and that the figuresare used only to illustrate a particular exemplary embodiment theinventive disclosure. It is to be understood, that for the purpose ofproviding simplified figures that are easy to understand, many of thedetails above have been omitted from the figures, however, it iscontemplated that the details described above may be incorporated intothe approach of the description below in any feasible manner. Exemplaryembodiments described herein are illustrative, and many variations canbe introduced without departing from the spirit of the disclosure. Forexample, elements and/or features of different exemplary embodiments maybe combined with each other and/or substituted for each other within thescope of this disclosure.

FIG. 1A is schematic diagram illustrating a system for using data fromthe database to alert drivers of parking violation occurrences inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure. Thecentral computing system 100 may be the primary computing entity forperforming the method described herein. The central computing system 100may be deployed on the operative server 101, and in turn the centralcomputing system 100 allows the operative server 101 to interactivelycommunicate with other implements. The operative server 101 may beinstantiated as one or more server computers and/or virtual machinesthat may work together to determine when drivers warrant a notification,and to provide the drivers with the notification, when warranted. Theoperative server 101 may accomplish this by accessing parking violationrelated data from data sets in the database 102, through thecommunicative means of the central computing system 100, periodicallyaccessing the data sets in the database 102. Alternatively, these tasksmay be done by the central computing system 100, which may access thedata set of historical and real-time parking related violations in thedatabase 102 using specific APIs, by subscription, or by being pushedthis data as it is made available. The central computing system 100 mayalso source parking violation related data from one or more users and/orother entities. The central computing system 100 may parse thehistorical and real-time parking violation related data to understandits contents in a standardized and unambiguous manner. The centralcomputing system 100 may generate a separate notification for a user ofcommercial and non-commercial vehicles as well as a separatenotification based on type of vehicle and type of vehicle plate.

The user who provides the parking violation related data may, inaddition to providing the data, access the central computing system 100to pay parking violation fines. The central computing system 100 mayconnect to a ticket payment API 107 to facilitate this payment, wheresuch a ticket payment API 107 is provided by the ticket issuing entity.A user may make use of the parking violation related data in thedatabase as they drive in their vehicles 105 by interacting with thecentral computing system 100 via a computing device 106, such as amobile device that is carried by the driver or an in-vehicle navigationunit installed in the vehicle 105. The computing device 106 maycommunicate with a network of communications base stations 104 and mayinteract with the central computing system 100 via the Internet or otherwireless connection 103.

FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a database in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure. Data sets arecategorized according to non-commercial vehicle data 108 and commercialvehicle data 113 in the database 102. Non-commercial vehicle data set108 includes non-commercial vehicle historical parking violationcitations data 109, non-commercial vehicle real-time parking violationcitations data 110, non-commercial vehicle parking rules andabbreviations data 111, and other non-commercial vehicle relevant data112, such as types of vehicles, types of vehicles' plates and other datarelated to non-commercial vehicles. Commercial vehicle data set 113applies to commercial vehicles only, which includes commercial vehiclehistorical parking violation citation data 114, commercial vehiclereal-time parking violation citations data 115, commercial vehicleparking rules and abbreviations data 116, and other commercial vehiclerelevant data, which may include types of vehicles, types of vehicles'plates and other data related to commercial vehicles 117. Data stored inuser information data set 118 may include data such as type of thevehicle, type of vehicle plate, etc. The user information data set 118may also be used to store user profiles, settings, preferences,user-input reliability to prevent system abuse.

Once the parking violation related data in the database is standardizedand made unambiguous, the central computing system 100 may interpretthat parking violation related data from the database 102 to understanda set of rules that appears to govern the enforcement of parkingviolations in a specific area. These rules may be mathematical functionsthat take location, day and time data as input, and as output provide anindication as to whether there may be a parking violation associatedwith the provided location, day, and time. These rules may be stored ina parking rules and abbreviations data sets for non-commercial vehicles111 and commercial vehicles 116, where various parking relatedabbreviations and jargon particular to certain sources are utilized. Thenon-commercial vehicle data set 108 and the commercial vehicle data set113 may be retrieved to generate the corresponding notification to theuser. The parking rules and abbreviations data set for non-commercialvehicles 111 and commercial vehicles 116 may be retrieved to helpstandardize parking violation related data. A violation codes data set119 may store violation codes and violation statutory codes used by lawenforcement/authorities and their corresponding definitions.

The database 102 may also include weather-related data to connect withlocations containing violation data. Historical weather data 120 mayconnect to historical citation data to find existing information aboutthe correlation between a certain weather occurrences and parkingviolations. For example, during snow emergencies, designated legalparking locations may be illegal due to emergency services necessary toremove snow, etc. Historical weather data 120 may connect withnon-commercial vehicle historical parking violation citation data 109and commercial vehicle historical parking violation citation data 114 toobtain correlation information, which may be used with real-time weatherdata 121 to determine if a notification is to be sent to a user whosecurrent location indicates that the user may be subject toweather-related parking advisories. Additionally, all data andinformation related to the user engagement panel is stored withinuser-engagement panel related data 122 comprising redesign of parkingsignage data as well as other parking signage related data 123 which mayinclude translations or redesigns of the signage, data regarding theparking violation related data contributed 124 by a user which was notin database 102, suggestions on avoiding parking violation citations125, advice on disputing a parking violations citation 126, as well asrating data regarding all the data submitted to the panel 127 thatrelates to all data or information and the ratings they have receivedwithin the user engagement panel data 122. Other data 128 relevant toproviding an effective notification such as geographic data may also beinput into the database 102.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an approach for alerting adriver in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the inventivedisclosure. The central computing system 100 may determine when thedriver of vehicle 105 shows parking intent through identifying thevehicle's speed and location. Then the central computing system 100 mayprovide the driver with a notification of potential parking violationswhen the vehicle 105 is within the predetermined radius R 203 of alocation, where the parking violation association has been made forgeolocation 202 with previous parking violation related data and parkingrules stored in the database 102. As depicted, the vehicle 105 may betraveling on a particular street 201. When the central computing system100 detects parking intent by identifying the current speed and locationof the vehicle 105, then central computing system 100 may determine fromthe parking violation related data and parking rules data stored in thedatabase 102 if that location is associated with parking violations forthe present time and day and the user type that the user belongs to. Ifit is so associated, any intent to park within this predetermined radius203 may thereby generate a notification to the driver of the vehicle 105from the computing system 100.

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram illustrating a user's interaction withthe central computing system using a mobile device when a user reports aparking ticket in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of theinventive disclosure. For the purposes of this illustration, thecomputing device 106 is depicted as a mobile device 301 such as asmartphone; however, it is to be understood that the computing device106 is not so limited, and it may be a vehicle integratedinformation/entertainment unit or any other computer device orcommunications module.

When a user is issued a citation 302 for a parking violation, the usermay use the mobile device 301 such as a smartphone to take a picture ofthe citation 302. As the citation 302 may include sensitive informationsuch as the vehicle identification number (VIN) and other personal data,such as name, residential address, etc., the sensitive information maybe redacted 303 either automatically by the mobile device 301 ormanually by the user. Alternatively, the user may input the citation 302information manually into the mobile device 301, for example, byselecting from various drop-down menus and/or by entering it, and otherinformation into free text fields. The user may also use the mobiledevice 301 to choose type of vehicle or type of vehicle plate, provide aphotograph, a video and/or an audio message, which may be particularlyuseful when the user is driving. As described above, the drivers mayreceive a notification when parking.

FIG. 3B is a flowchart illustrating how the parking ticket informationreported from the user is recognized, processed, and uploaded to thesystem in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the inventivedisclosure. A user may provide parking citation information to the userengagement panel S304 including but not limited to accurate locationaccording to GPS, time of receiving violation citation, reason forreceiving violation citation, type of vehicle and type of vehicle plate,and any other additional relevant information, etc. Parking citationinformation may be input manually by the user, or the system may performoptical character recognition (OCR) S305 to obtain the information.Where input is manual, the user may input data of received parkingviolation citation by selecting available options S306. Once all optionsare selected and other related information has been filled in, the datamay be processed S309 within the system through cleaning, formatting,and de-duplicating, etc. When complete, it may be uploaded to thedatabase S310.

Where input is by OCR, a user may upload a parking violation citationphotograph S307, which may be converted to textual data S308 inaccordance with OCR techniques by an image processor to be processedS309 by cleaning, formatting, and de-duplicating, etc. the data. Oncethe data is fully processed, it may be uploaded to database 8310. Forexample, there may be a type of violation that states “Taxi parked in anarea only for commercial trucks for loading/unloading goods.” The systemmay recognize the ticket and upload the data to the database withindicators that mark the ticket as a ticket only issued to non-truckvehicles.

FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating a user-interface engagement panel(Ticket Sharing & Q/A/C) based on a specific location in accordance withan exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure. When a useraccesses the user engagement panel within the system of the mobileapplication, the user may have several panels within the user engagementpanel to choose from, such as Tickets Sharing 41 and Questions, Answersand Comments 44. A user may rate or report within the user engagementpanel, comment, view reasons, location of the violation, ticket penaltyamounts, the number of tickets previously issued for the location 42. Auser may also add their own comment 43 to the user engagement panel postwhile also submitting pictures, videos, voice recordings, etc. A usermay also choose and submit questions 45, answers 46, and comments in theQuestions, Answers and Comments 44 panel.

FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating a user-interface engagement panel(Signs & Other) based on a specific location in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure. When a user accessesthe user engagement panel within the system of the mobile application,the user may have several panels within user engagement panel to choosefrom, such as Signs 47 and Other 49 not included in the above, if any.The Signs panel 47 allows a user to view the content present on parkingsignage 48 reported by a user and comment from other users regardingtheir interpretations of the signs. All comments or answers within theuser engagement panel are subject to ratings. The comments or answerswith the most positive ratings may be displayed at the top of the list.All comments and answers may be reported by one or more users and theadministrator can hire employees experienced in traffic laws to helpusers resolve their concerns and provide professional answers. The userengagement panel may include Other 49 panel as determined by theadministrator of the system. Alternatively, the user may interact withany of the screens on the user engagement panel shown in FIGS. 4A & 4Busing voice commands by speaking the option he/she would like. Forexample, when a user chooses to report a parking citation, he/she mayspeak the phrase “Share Tickets” or “Ticket Sharing” to bring up theTickets Sharing screen 41 on the user engagement panel. From there, theuser may speak “Report” to engage the appropriate prompt so as tofurther input the reasons, location, price, any relevant photos, etc.Once all the relevant information is input, the user may speak or say“Submit” to send the information to computer system 100 or may speak orsay “Back” if the user wants to change screens. Similarly, the user mayuse voice commands to interact with screens for other function, such asthe Questions, Answers and Comments screen 44, the Signs screen 47, orthe Other screen 49.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an approach for processing parkingviolation related data based on historical parking violation relateddata and real-time parking violation related data in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure. As discussed above,information relating to parking violations may come from at least twosources: historical parking violation related data set fornon-commercial vehicles 109 and commercial vehicles 114 and real-timeparking violation related data set for non-commercial vehicles 110 andcommercial vehicles 115. The first determination that must be made iswhether there is public data available S501. If so, sources may beaccessed S502. These sources may be government or other media sources;any source that makes parking violation related data publicly accessiblemay be accessed. This access may be automatic and periodic. Once accesshas been established, violations data may be requested from websites andadditional sources S503, and the requested data may then be receivedfrom the websites and additional sources S504. As this data may be in aform that is dictated by the particular source, the received violationsdata may be parsed for key fields S506, and the key fields aredisambiguated S507.

As described above, parking violation related data may originate fromprivate data. Thus, if there is no data publicly available from a publicagency or posted in a location accessible publicly such as a publishedwebsite, then indicia of a violation may be received from a user S508.The indicia informs the system that the user has received a citation fora parking violation, and thus the process for collecting citation datamay begin. During this process, the system may request the pertinentcitation data from the user, as described above, as well as suggestionson how to avoid a citation S509. Next, it is determined if a photographor scan of the citation is received S510. If this photograph or scan isreceived, optical character recognition (OCR) may be performed on thephotograph image, which may have been redacted S505. Once OCR has beenperformed, the OCR text may be parsed for key fields S506. After theparsing of either the OCR data or the municipal data, key fields may bedisambiguated S507. It may be understood that in writing the citations,the same location may be described in many different ways. For example,the parking space may be referred to by the address that it is in frontof, or, in some cases, across from. This address may also be provided inmany different ways. For example, a single street may be written as“sixth ave,” “6th ave,” “Avenue of the Americas,” etc. Disambiguationtherefore converts all data into a single format, for example, alocation may be converted into latitude/longitude coordinates so thatthere is no ambiguity. Disambiguation may also be used to standardizeviolation names, for example, with reference to the abbreviations.

However, where the user does not provide a photograph or scanned imageof the citation, the user may be prompted to fill in the key fields withpertinent data S511, for example, in an unambiguous way such as byselecting from various options or manually typing into free-text fields;disambiguation might not be necessary in this case. In either event, allthe collected data may have duplicate violations removed S512, cleanedand formatted S513, with locations geocoded S514 to ensure that the sameinstance of a citation is not counted twice. This may be done, forexample, with reference to a citation number that is specific to theissuing agency. Once the data is cleaned and formatted, it may be addedto the violations data set in the database S515. If the new violationdata pertains to a non-commercial vehicle, the data may be stored innon-commercial vehicle data set S516. If the new violation data pertainsto a commercial vehicle, the data may be stored in commercial vehicledata set S517. Also, new violation data may be sub-grouped by type ofvehicle and type of vehicle plate. Data may include time, day, andlocation-linked rules for commercial and non-commercial vehicles for thesystem to determine parking rules.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method and system to alert the userbased on the data in the database in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the inventive disclosure. The location coordinates ofdrivers may be transmitted to the system, for example periodically, andthe system may receive this coordinate data, i.e. geolocation, as wellas information about their type of vehicle and type of vehicle platefrom the drivers S601. The driver's current speed and intendeddestination may be received by the system from the computing device 106of the user S602. The system may then query the user on the intent topark S603. If yes, then the system may identify the current time(timestamp) S605. If no, then the system may repeat parking query basedon user's preferences S604. The system may also continue to receivelocation coordinates from the driver S601 and the vehicle's speed andintended destination S602 to determine the user's parking intent.

In the event that it is determined that the driver is parking S603, thesystem may then receive the user's timestamp S605, corresponding to thepresent time. The database 102 may be queried by the system with thedriver's present location and present time and other information S606 todetermine, if there is any applicable prior parking violation S607.Where it is determined that the database does not contain data of priorviolations for that location, then the user may be issued a notificationthat the user may park at that location S609. Where it is determinedthat citations have occurred at the location and are applicable to thedriver's user type and to the present time/day S607, then a notificationmay be issued to the user not to park S610. Where it is determined thatcitations have occurred at the location at a time or day applicable inthe near future (within a period of time that one is likely to be parkedfor) S607, then an optional follow-up notification may be set by theuser S608, so that the user may be notified by the system with anotification S610 at a later time to remind the user of the need toleave the parking location prior to the time or day when parkingviolations are known to have occurred. The central computing system 100may obtain ratings from the user S611, as to whether the notification heor she received is accurate.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating the composition of acomputing device for reporting parking violations and receiving anotification with parking violation related data in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure. The computing device106 may be in communication with all its components, tangible orintangible, and may incorporate internal devices 700 and externaldevices 709. The computing device 106 may be a device such as a mobiledevice or in-vehicle navigation system, and it may utilize acommunication means for receiving voice, text, and data 701 forconnecting to the central computing system 100 such as over the Internetor other cellular/wireless connections 103. The computing device 106 mayinclude location determining apparatus or GPS receiver 702 foridentification of a present location. An application processor 703 maybe used for executing software on the computing device. The computingdevice may also contain storage such as random-access memory (RAM) orflash storage 704. Input/output devices 705 may be used to connect thecomputing device to other system implements, especially depending on theavailable functionalities of a computing device. For example, anin-vehicle navigation system might not have a camera, while a mobiledevice may have a camera built in. In this instance, a camera may beincluded as an input for the in-vehicle navigation system. Other I/Odevices may include a, a microphone, and/or a speaker. The computingdevice may also include a display apparatus 706, which may receive anddisplay a notification or other data to a user received from the centralcomputing system 100. The display apparatus 706 may, for example, be anelectronic touchscreen display. The computing device may alsocommunicate with an internal clock mechanism 707 to determine thepresent time. An accelerometer or a speedometer 708 may also be incommunication with the mobile device, which may measure speed,acceleration, or directional changes. External devices 709 may connectto the computing device as well, through a wired or wireless connection.These external devices may be any device that may compensate for certainmissing functionalities of any certain computing device, whether it maybe a mobile device such as a tablet or smartphone or an in-vehiclenavigation system or other computing device, etc.

FIG. 8 shows the physical composition of a remote operative server 101that may implement a method and system of the inventive disclosure inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment. The system and method of thepresent disclosure may be implemented in the form of a softwareapplication running through connectivity means of a central computingsystem, for example, a mainframe, personal computer (PC), handheldcomputer, server, etc. The software application may be stored on arecording media locally accessible by the central computing system andaccessible via a hardwired or wireless connection to a network, forexample, a local area network, or the internet.

The operative server 101 referred to generally as server that mayinclude, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) 801, a memory unit804, a printer interface 810, display units 811, a local area network(LAN) data transmission controller 805, a LAN interface 806, a networkcontroller 803 connected to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN),an internal bus 802, and one or more input devices 809, for example, akeyboard, mouse etc. As shown, the system may be connected to a datastorage device, for example, a hard disk 808 via a link 807.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system and method for acomputing device to connect with the system's database 102 through thecentral computing system 100 and receive a notification corresponding tocommercial vehicles in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of theinventive disclosure. A combination of data in the database forgenerating a notification for commercial vehicles 901 may include thecommercial vehicle data set 113, user-information data set 118,violation code data set 119, and other relevant data 128. The computingdevice 106 connects to central computing system 100, which, in turn,connects to the combination of data in the database for generating anotification for commercial vehicles 901, is configured to integratewith an interactive electronic map API 902, such as Google Maps© API, aswell as receive and display a notification relating to the user type ofthe user. The notification may be specific for a commercial vehicle,where the notification is specifically relevant in its information. Theinformation contained within a notification 903 may be based on specificdata from the combination of data for commercial vehicles 901, as thenotification may be selectively issued based on the user's user type,further based on type of vehicle and type of vehicle place. Thisnotification may be delivered in two ways: visually 904 and/or by voice905.

In one embodiment, remote computing device 106 may be a device whichallows a user to interact with computing system 100 by providing aninteractive voice response (IVR) device where the user can input data ormake selections via voice commands. The user may speak into computingdevice 106 to provide input, make changes, or otherwise interact withall of the functions of the system. For example, a user may say “Pleaseturn off notifications” to stop the system from sending notificationthat have become too numerous. Functionalities within the system of themobile application may integrate with third party APIs to providevoice-to-text capabilities. The users who utilize the voice-to-textfunction may record their voice by speaking into the microphone ofcomputing device 106, so that the system may change any voice command orinput to a text equivalent within the mobile application. Accordingly,the users may not necessarily have to enter information manually and maysubmit information to the system by simply speaking. All functions ofthe mobile application, such as notifications and the user engagementpanel may be available in different languages that can be changed by theuser. The system may use a third-party service and/or API, or the systemadministrator may hire professionals to translate the content todifferent languages or provide explanations in plain English. There maybe other functionalities that allow the application to integrate withother APIs to provide voice-to-text capabilities. The users who utilizethis function may record their voice by speaking into computing device106, which the system may change to a text equivalent within theapplication. Accordingly, the users may not necessarily have to manuallyinput information and may enter information orally. Both written andoral notifications may be available in a variety of languages and may bechanged in the user preferences. The users may also provide translationsthat are subject to ratings, in exchange for rewards.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system and method for acomputing device to connect with the system's database 102 through thecentral computing system 100 and receive a notification corresponding tonon-commercial vehicles in accordance with an exemplary embodiment ofthe inventive disclosure. A combination of data in the database forgenerating a notification for non-commercial vehicles 1000 may includethe non-commercial vehicle data set 108, user-information data set 118,violation code data set 119, and other relevant data 128, which may beused to generate a notification for a non-commercial vehicle through thecentral computing system 100. The computing device 106 connects tocentral computing system 100, which, in turn, connects to thecombination of data in the database for generating a notification fornon-commercial vehicles 1000. The computing device 106 may be configuredto integrate with an interactive electronic map API 902, such as GoogleMaps© API, as well as being configured to receive and display anotification. The information contained within a notification 1001 maybe based on specific data from the database for non-commercial vehicles1000, as the notification may be selectively issued based on the user'suser type, and further based on the type of vehicle and type of vehicleplate. This notification 1001 may be delivered in two ways: visually 904and/or by voice 905.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system for using thedatabase to alert drivers of parking violation occurrences through acomputing device in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of theinventive disclosure. The computing device 106 may communicate with anetwork of communications base stations 104 and may interact with thecentral computing system 100 via the Internet or other wirelessconnections 103. The operative server 101 may be instantiated as one ormore server computers and/or virtual machines that may work togetherwith the communicative means of the central computing system 100 tocollect the parking violation related data from a plurality of sources,to determine when drivers warrant a notification, and to provide thedrivers with the notification. The operative server 101 may accomplishthis by accessing parking violation related data from data sets in thedatabase 102. The central computing system 100 may periodically querythe data sets in the database 102. Alternatively, the central computingsystem 100 may access parking violation related data in the database 102using specific APIs, by subscription, or by being pushed this data as itis made available. The computing device 106 may be installed in thevehicle 105 or may be a mobile device of a user. The computing device106 may connect with its internal devices 700 and external devices 709in communication with it in order to communicate with the centralcomputing system 100 to relay data such as time, date, location etc.,receive a notification, process, and display that notification to theuser. The central computing system 100 may generate the notification fora non-commercial vehicle user and a commercial vehicle user separately.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating the process of rating parkingviolation related data or a notification submitted to the userengagement panel in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of theinventive disclosure, and how those ratings of the data affect the datawithin the database 102. The first step in this process is the usersubmitting parking violation related data to the user engagement panelS1200. This parking violation related data may include a parking signageredesign regarding translation into a different language orclarification of content, suggestion on how to avoid a parking violationcitation, etc. That information is then rated by other users, dependingon its accuracy S1201. The system collects and uses user ratings(positive and negative) to sort the contributed parking violationrelated data S1202. If any user rates the submitted parking violationrelated data negatively as to it accuracy, that user has an option toprovide proof of why that parking violation related data may be wrongS1203. Ratings may be collected by the system until it is determinedthat positive ratings have reached a predetermined number S1204. If thenumber of ratings has not reached the predetermined number, the systemmay continue to collect ratings from other users S1201. If the number ofpositive ratings has reached a predetermined number, then thecontributed parking violation related data may be used to correct,update, and supplement the database accordingly S1205. Thus, correcting,updating, and supplementing the database may be from positive ornegative ratings. Positive ratings may be used to replace or reinforcethe data in the database, and negative ratings may be used to identifyor invalidate inaccurate data. Once in the database, that contributedparking violation related data may be incorporated into a relevantnotification regarding that parking violation related data S1206. Forexample, if the parking violation related data submitted to the userengagement panel was suggestion on how to avoid receiving a parkingviolation citation at a particular location, that suggestion or its datamay be included within the notification that is relevant to thatlocation and/or time and that is subsequently generated and issued S1207to an applicable user.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a circular process of rating anotification to correct, update, and supplement parking violationrelated data within the database 102 in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the inventive disclosure. Once a user's parking intent isidentified, the system may use parking violation related data containedwithin the database 102, to generate and issue a notification that warnsa user about a potential parking violation, S1207. This notification maybe in part based on the parking violation related data from aninformational source, or it may be in part based on parking violationrelated data from a submission to the user engagement panel whichreceived enough ratings to be incorporated into a notification. In anycase, this information allows the user to park knowing the parking rulesthat apply to the current parking location. After having received anotification, the user can rate the notification and may judge orcomment on whether the notification was accurate S1301. If the userrates the notification positively, e.g., that the notification wasaccurate, the system may record the user's positive rating S1302.Accordingly, accurate data that leads to an accurate notification may bereinforced and otherwise kept in place. If the user rates thenotification negatively, e.g., that the notification was inaccurate, theuser may then provide proof of why the notification was inaccurateS1303; a negative rating may be given to a notification when, forexample, the parking prohibitions in effect for a particular locationare in fact different from those cited in the notification, such asincorrect timing or day of the week information. In the case where thenotification does not accurately reflect the parking rules, a user wouldsubmit a picture of the parking sign or another type of evidence asproof of that notification's inaccuracy in that situation. The systemthen records that user's negative rating S1302. The ratings are recordedand collected until a certain type of rating, in this case, positive ornegative ratings, reaches a predetermined number S1304. If the number ofpositive ratings reaches a predetermined number, then a monetary ornon-monetary reward may be implemented to the relevant user S1305, whofirst submitted parking violation related data contained within therated notification. Since the negative rating is supported by proof,negative ratings, once they reach a predetermined number, can be used tocorrect, update, and supplement S1306 the existing parking violationrelated data within the database 102. For instance, some inaccurate datamay be removed from the database and from the correspondingnotification. This corrected, updated, and supplemented data in thedatabase is then used to provide a user with new and more accuratenotifications. This is a cycle, as the new notification, which is basedon the database, corrected, updated, and supplemented by ratings ofparking violation related data submitted to the user engagement panel,is likewise subject to ratings when parking intent is identified and anotification for a location is issued S1207.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a system for inferring a potentialparking prohibition based on location in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the inventive disclosure. In this exemplary depiction, auser 1401 of a non-commercial vehicle user type is shown. The user 1401intends to park in a location 1402 which is likely to result inviolation of a parking prohibition as determined by the system. Shown inthe figure is the street 1403 that the user 1401 intends to park on. Theuser's intended parking location 1402 falls between the two otherparking locations 1404 and 1405. Location 1404 is wholly occupied by acommercial vehicle 1406; however, the occupancy of a parking location1404 does not affect the system's ability to infer a potential parkingprohibition for the user's intended parking location 1402. In thisexample, the database has a record of at least one parking violationcitation issued at location 1404 to a user of a non-commercial vehiclefor parking in the commercial-vehicle only zone. The database also has arecord of at least one parking violation citation issued in location1405, likewise to another user of a non-commercial vehicle for parkingin a commercial-vehicle only zone. The system, however, does not bearany parking violation related data for location 1402. Nevertheless, thesystem may be able to infer, based on existing violations at locations1404 and 1405, that the user 1401 is likely to receive a parkingviolation citation for parking in location 1402.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a user's computing device and anotification that a user may receive regarding a potential parkingprohibition based on location in accordance with an exemplary embodimentof the inventive disclosure. Once the system identifies the user'sparking intent, as depicted in FIG. 14, the system prompts the user toconfirm his or her parking intent on the user's computing device 1501 byclicking either “yes” or “no” 1502. When the user is parking and hasclicked “yes,” the system may be prompted to display a notification tothe user regarding parking any parking prohibition 1503 based on theuser's current geolocation 1504. Although these dialog windows are notillustrated as being displayed within the user's computing device 1501,it is to be understood that this showing is merely for the purposes ofproviding a clear illustration, and it is to be understood that thesedialog windows would be displayed within the user's computing device1501.

In this figure, the user's current geolocation is 810 W 181st Street.The notification may include a summary of relevant information, such aswhat parking rule or regulation applies to the user's intended parkinglocation at the particular time, which in this case is a prohibitionregarding non-commercial vehicles parking in a commercial-vehicle onlyzone 1505. Also displayed is a comparison of the collected ratings 1506for this notification. In this example, the user's notification has beenproven to be accurate by a 100 percent of users' ratings, and inaccurateby 0 percent. If the user would like to know the reasoning behind thisnotification, the user may click “See Details” 1507 to see detailsrelating to why the system has generated this notification. Then, thesystem may reference any relevant citations issued 1508. In this case,there are two relevant citations, 1509 and 1510, both of which wereissued on the relevant day of the week at the relevant time at 808 W181st Street and 812 W 181st Street, respectively, both citations wereissued to non-commercial vehicle users for parking in acommercial-vehicle only zone 1511. The user can then rate thisnotification and its related information regarding its accuracy 1513 byclicking on a “Rate” button 1512 that brings up the rating panel on theuser's computing device 1514. This way the user may give a positiverating of “Yes” or a negative rating of “No” to the notification. Bygiving the negative rating, the system may prompt the user to submitproof of inaccuracy 1515. In this prompt, the system may ask the user tosubmit or type in the reasons as to why the notification was inaccurate1516 and submit a picture of the signage in question or a parkingviolation citation 1517. It is to be understood that the street addressused in the above example is not intended to be a reflection of actualdata points, nor is it intended to reflect actual parking prohibitionsor parking situations; it is intended to be used for illustrativepurposes.

Alternatively, the user may interact with any of the screens oncomputing device 1501 using voice commands by speaking the option he/shewould like. For example, when a user chooses to park, he/she may say orspeak “Yes” or “No” when prompted. From there, the system may verballyannounce or notify the user of the status of parking at or around theuser's location (i.e., by audibly announcing “Your Location: 810 West181^(st) Street, Commercial Vehicle Only Zone, 100% Accuracy Rating”).The system may then prompt the user audibly to determine if he/she wouldlike to further “Rate” the information, or if he/she would like to “SeeDetails.” If the user verbally opts to see more details by speaking orsaying “See Details” or “More Information”, the system may display thedetails and audibly announce them (e.g., by stating “Citations issued:808 west 181^(st) street, commercial vehicle only, Wednesday 2:30 pm,and 812 west 181” street, commercial vehicle only, Wednesday 2:40 pm).Such an interactive voice response system enables the user to morequickly and safely interact with user engagement panel on computingdevice 106 to retrieve the appropriate information regarding avoidanceof parking violations.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a system for inferring a parkingprohibition based on time for a user 1601 in accordance with anexemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure. Shown in the figure isthe user's intended parking location 1602. Once parking intent of theuser 1601 is identified, the system may automatically display parkingsignage corresponding to location 1602 on the user's computing device,as the user cannot see a sign 1603 located further down the same street,which shows that parking is prohibited on Tuesdays between 9:30 AM and10 AM due to street sweeping. The system may also alert the user of anypotential parking prohibition based on inference drawn from the timeswhen parking violation citations were issued at location 1602 andparking rules or regulations applicable to that user's user type. Inthis example, the database contains several parking violation citations1604, 1605, and 1606, issued at location 1602 issued for parking duringstreet sweeping hours, as identified by the parking sign 1603.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a notification 1701 that a user mayreceive regarding a potential parking prohibition based on time inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure.Thus, based on the user's intended parking location and the parkingviolation related data associated with the user's geolocation 1702,130-30 31st Avenue, and current time and day, Tuesday, 9:41 AM, thesystem might issue a notification to advise the user against parking inlocation 1702 because, according to the data in the database, no parkingis permitted between 9:30 AM and 10 AM due to street sweeping 1703. Ifthe user is curious about the details of this notification, the “SeeDetails” button is available to click 1704. When the user clicks on thebutton, the user is taken to a panel that displays the relevant categoryof citations issued at location 1702. In this case, the category ofapplicable citations is street cleaning 1705, which is also the reasonfor these citations' issuance. Also displayed are the relevant times ofwhen those citations were issued 1706; since the database contains arecord of parking citations issued at 9:31 AM, 9:51 AM and 9:54 AM, andthe current time is 9:41 AM, the system may infer that the user maypotentially receive a parking violation citation by parking at location1702 at this current time, 9:41 AM.

An exemplary embodiment of the inventive disclosure described herein isillustrative, and many variations can be introduced without departingfrom the spirit of the disclosure. For example, elements and/or featuresmay be combined with each other and/or substituted for each other withinthe scope of this disclosure and appended claims. Furthermore, anyelement described herein in the singular is not intended to limit thatelement only to the singular. For example, “a user” or “the user” is notintended to mean one and only one user, it is intended to encompass oneor more users. The same is true with any other element herein unlessspecifically indicated otherwise. In addition, the term “exemplary”herein is used to describe an element as an example of the inventivedisclosure, not to describe an element as a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A computer-implemented method for assisting a userwith avoidance of parking violations, comprising: storing, on a server,parking violation data having one or more data types comprising at leastone of a commercial vehicle type, a non-commercial vehicle type, a typeof vehicle, or a type of vehicle plate; transmitting, by the server, anotification comprising at least a portion of the parking violation datato one or more computing devices associated with one or more respectiveusers based on a user type of each respective user corresponding to arespective data type associated with a present location of one or morevehicles of the one or more respective users, wherein each user typecomprises at least one of a commercial vehicle user type, anon-commercial vehicle user type, a user type based on type of vehicleor a user type based on type of vehicle plate; receiving, by the server,from the one or more users, one or more positive ratings of the portionof parking violation data associated with the present location;responsive to receiving a predetermined number of the positive ratings,issuing a reward to a particular user who contributed at least theportion of parking violation data in the notification.
 22. The methodaccording to claim 21, further comprising: displaying, by the server,the notification on a display screen of each user computing device,wherein the notification includes one or more potentially illegalparking locations displayed in a first format or one or more legalparking locations displayed in a second format.
 23. The method accordingto claim 21, wherein the parking violation data comprises at least oneof: parking rules, parking regulations, parking violation records,parking violation codes, parking violation statutory codes, one or moreabbreviations used by parking enforcement personnel, associated fines orother penalties, a preference for the notification, parking signage withone or more locations, parking meter locations and associated parkingmeter costs, street view with one or more photos or videos for one ormore locations with a predetermined number of parking violationcitations, notice of one or more temporary or permanent parkingprohibitions, tow away zone relevant data, street cleaning relevantdata, or weather relevant data or shared parking violation data.
 24. Themethod according to claim 23, wherein the parking violation datacomprises at least one of: (i) a parking violation citation notcurrently stored on the server; (ii) a suggestion for avoiding receivinga parking violation citation; (iii) a recommendation for disputing theviolation citation; or (iv) a redesign of parking signage relating toplain language meaning, content clarification, or language translation.25. The method according to claim 21, wherein the reward comprises amonetary or non-monetary reward.
 26. The method according to claim 21,wherein the one or more users who provide the one or more positiveratings have first-hand experience, and wherein the first-handexperience is identified by receiving the notification, or by passing orhaving passed within a predetermined distance of the present location.27. The method according to claim 21, further comprising: identifying,by the server, a parking intent of a particular user based on a currentspeed of a particular vehicle associated with the particular user and apredetermined proximity to an intended destination preset by theparticular user.
 28. The method according to claim 27, furthercomprising: responsive to identification of the parking intent of theparticular user, issuing the notification to the particular user. 29.The method of claim 21, further comprising: responsive to one or moreadditional ratings of an additional portion of the parking violationdata through one or more user engagement panels reaching a predeterminednumber, modifying a database on the server to include at least theadditional portion of the parking violation data.
 30. The method ofclaim 29, further comprising: generating an additional notificationincluding at least the additional portion of the parking violation dataidentifying a potential parking violation applicable to one or moreadditional users.
 31. A computer-implemented system for assisting a userwith avoidance of parking violations, comprising: a server incommunication with one or more computing devices associated with one ormore respective users via a network, wherein the server includes atleast one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium withcomputer-readable instructions stored therein, a database, and aprocessor for executing the computer-readable instructions to: storeparking violation data having one or more data types comprising at leastone of a commercial vehicle type, a non-commercial vehicle type, a typeof vehicle or a type of vehicle plate; transmit a notificationcomprising at least a portion of the parking violation data to one ormore computing devices associated with one or more respective usersbased on a user type of each respective user corresponding to arespective data type associated with a present location of one or morevehicles of the one or more respective users, wherein each user typecomprises at least one of a commercial vehicle user type, anon-commercial vehicle user type, a user type based on type of vehicle,or a user type based on type of vehicle plate; receive, from the one ormore users, one or more positive ratings of the portion of parkingviolation data associated with the present location; responsive toreceiving a predetermined number of the positive ratings, issuing areward to a particular user who contributed at least the portion of theparking violation data in the notification.
 32. The system according toclaim 31, wherein the processor is further instructed to execute thecomputer-readable instructions to: display the notification on a displayscreen of each user computing device, wherein the notification includesone or more potentially illegal parking locations displayed in a firstformat or one or more legal parking locations displayed in a secondformat.
 33. The system according to claim 31, wherein the parkingviolation data comprises at least one of: parking rules, parkingregulations, parking violation records, parking violation codes, parkingviolation statutory codes, one or more abbreviations used by parkingenforcement personnel, associated fines or other penalties, a preferencefor the notification, parking signage with one or more locations,parking meter locations and associated parking meter costs, street viewwith one or more photos or videos for one or more locations with apredetermined number of parking violation citations, notice of one ormore temporary or permanent parking prohibitions, tow away zone relevantdata, street cleaning relevant data, or weather relevant data or sharedparking violation data.
 34. The system according to claim 33, whereinthe parking violation data comprises at least one of: (i) a parkingviolation citation not currently stored on the database; (ii) asuggestion for avoiding receiving a parking violation citation; (iii) arecommendation for disputing the violation citation; or (iv) a redesignof parking signage relating to plain language meaning, contentclarification, or language translation.
 35. The system according toclaim 31, wherein the reward comprises a monetary or non-monetaryreward.
 36. The system according to claim 31, wherein the one or moreusers who provide the one or more positive ratings have first-handexperience, and wherein the first-hand experience is identified byreceiving the notification, or by passing or having passed within apredetermined distance of the present location.
 37. The system accordingto claim 31, wherein the processor is further instructed to execute thecomputer-readable instructions to: identify a parking intent of aparticular user based on a current speed of a particular vehicleassociated with the particular user and a predetermined proximity to anintended destination preset by the particular user.
 38. The systemaccording to claim 37, wherein the processor is further instructed toexecute the computer-readable instructions to: responsive toidentification of the parking intent of the particular user, issuing thenotification to the particular user.
 39. The system according to claim31, wherein the processor is further instructed to execute thecomputer-readable instructions to: responsive to one or more additionalratings of an additional portion of the parking violation data throughone or more user engagement panels reaching a predetermined number,modify the database to include at least the additional portion of theparking violation data.
 40. The system according to claim 39, whereinthe processor is further instructed to execute the computer-readableinstructions to: generate an additional notification including at leastthe additional portion of the parking violation data identifying apotential parking violation applicable to one or more additional users.